Gruyere & Caramelised Shallot Nests

Today I’m bringing you Gruyere & Caramelised Shallot Nests.

It’s National Picnic Week this week so I decided I needed to make something fabulous for the occasion! Casting my mind back to when I was 21 and working in a professional upmarket caterers (where I’d often be serving the food we’d cooked during the day at events/parties in the evening) I remembered a marathon afternoon of making Gruyere and Shallot Mini Quiches amongst others.

As the weather is so very unpredictable in Britain I decided that instead of using pastry I would use bread (which most people have to hand) and therefore these Gruyere & Caramelised Shallot Nests can be made up at short notice for an impromptu picnic.

The trick with these nests is to spread the bread with plenty of butter as this will make them go golden and toasted in the oven. As the cheese and shallots are quite sweet you also need to season the nests well. Hubby and I enjoyed these hot for lunch and the children had theirs cold when they came home from school (a big thumbs up from both of them)! I think they are actually best cold and therefore perfect picnic food.

If you do plan to have a picnic and the weather goes all British on you and rains, then simply spread the picnic rug out on your carpet and carry on regardless. Good food and a sense of humour is all you need!

If you like these Gruyere & Caramelised Shallot Nests then I’m sure you’ll also like:

• Croquiches
• Sunny Picnic Quiches
• Cajun Tortilla Mini Quiches
• Asparagus Tarts with a Pesto Surprise
• Individual Cheese & Tomato Tarts

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Gruyere & Caramelised Shallot Nests previously published at Great British Chefs.

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Gruyere & Caramelised Shallot Nests

Gruyere and Caramelised Shallot Nests are the perfect picnic treat, like a cross between a sandwich and a mini quiche!

Course Lunch, Main

Cuisine British

Keyword gruyere, nests, Picnic

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes minutes

Total Time 50 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author Camilla Hawkins

Ingredients

• 6 Slices of bread crusts removed (I used 50/50)
• Butter or margarine for spreading
• 1 tbsp Rapeseed oil
• 150 g Shallots finely sliced
• 70 g Gruyere cheese grated
• 3 Eggs large
• 3 tbsp Milk
• Pinch of grated nutmeg
• Cayenne pepper for sprinkling
• Freshly ground salt & pepper

Instructions

• Pre-heat the oven to 180⁰C.
• Using a rolling pin, roll out the slices of bread until they are completely flattened (roll from side to side to encourage a more square shape).
• Butter both sides of the bread well.
• Press the slices of bread into 6 holes of a muffin tin.
• Gently fry the shallots in the oil until golden.
• Put half the grated gruyere into the bread nests, top with caramelised shallots and then put the rest of the gruyere on top.
• Season each nest well with freshly ground salt and pepper. (I find seasoning the egg mixture results in it sinking to the bottom of the bowl and staying there)!
• Whisk together the eggs, milk and nutmeg and pour into the nests and then sprinkle with cayenne pepper.
• Place in the centre of the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until cooked and golden.
• Once cooked remove from muffin tray, allow to cool and put in the fridge until needed or enjoy hot with your favourite salads.