Mini crustless quiches are such an easy-to-impress finger food for parties as you can get adventurous with the fillings without overstretching your buffet budget. Alternatively, with an olive oil crust, they make a lovely light lunch, served cold or warm with a rocket side salad and buttered new potatoes.

Stilton or smoked salmon marry classically-well with broccoli. However, this is my favourite recipe as I love how the fresh ricotta fluffs up the egg mixture. If you go crustless, you end up with moreish little clouds that you and your guests will never get enough of!

For the crust:

• 250 grams of flour (1/2 white and 1/2 wholemeal flour)
• 1 tsp salt
• 60 ml (1/4 cup) olive oil
• 120 ml (1/2 cup) water

For the filling:

• A medium broccoli head, cut into small florets and steamed
• 1 onion fried until translucent
• 4 eggs
• 200 ml of milk
• 100 grams of grated parmesan
• Fresh ricotta to squatter on top

Preheat the oven to 175 C to pre-cook the pastry. While the oven is heating up, steam the broccoli florets, slowly fry the onion on a low heat until translucent. Then, set both aside.

If you are going to make the crust. Mix together the ingredients until you have a soft dough. Place your pastry in a circular quiche tin, prick with a fork, cut off excess pastry and blind bake for 15 minutes.

Once the pastry is half-baked, put together the filling by placing the broccoli on the pastry, pour the egg mixture over the filling. Finish off with dollops of fresh ricotta. Put the quiche back in the oven and cook for a further 30 minutes at 180 C, until the mixture is set and the top is golden.

If you are planning to go crustless, prepare the filling ingredients as above. Fill a non-stick small muffin/cupcake tin with these ingredients. Pour over the egg mixture and add a dollop of ricotta. Then place into a preheated oven at 180 C, cook until fluffy and golden (about 10-15 minutes).

Follow  me and my cooking on Instagram @moodyfoodyldn or tweet @salhorspool.