Quiches are fun to make and even more fun to eat.

I was looking for a recipe the other day and found it was included in an article titled ‘Love and quiches’ I’d written nearly 10 years ago. I was flabbergasted because if you had asked me, I’d have said I only wrote it a few years ago. Well, they say time flies when you’re having fun, so I must have been having a ball since 2004!

I like quiches and savoury tarts, particularly in summer, and although the word quiche tends to conjure up ladies who lunch, I do have some man-size varieties.

What I like most about them is their versatility. I can halve the recipes, which I often do, to make mini quiches just for the two of us (as I have done for two of the photos), or I can double them up and use large tart tins or baking trays to make tarts to feed a crowd.

You can make them with puff or shortcrust pastry, bread dough, filo or even tortillas, and of course you can put anything you like in them – meat, fish, shellfish, vegetables, cheese, anything you fancy, really. Most quiches are easily transportable in their baking tins and most can be served hot or cold.

Pissaladière is a sort of French onion pizza from Provence and is traditionally made with bread dough, although I often use puff pastry. According to Larousse Gastronomique, the French cookery bible, the layer of onions should be at least half as thick as the dough, or equally as thick as the pastry. The onions are topped with black olives and anchovies, and I like to add some goat’s cheese as well. This one, I think, is at its best served hot.

A real man-size quiche is one I make using sausages and a variety of vegetables. You can use regular pork sausages or Maltese zalzett or a mixture of both, and you can also vary the vegetables. Served with a big baked potato and a huge green salad, it’s guaranteed to satisfy the most macho appetite!

Curry might seem a bit of an unusual ingredient for a quiche, but I add some mild curry powder to the pastry mix and fill the tart with small prawns (cocktail prawns are fine), green beans and spring onions. Then I pour on a custard made with eggs and coconut milk, ginger, more curry powder, mango chutney and a chopped chilli and serve it topped with large, freshly- cooked prawns – not strictly necessary, but delicious.

And last but not least is a butternut squash and brie quiche. Butternut has become quite trendy over the last year or so, and like all American ‘hard’ or winter squash, it keeps for ages as long as you don’t cut it. Some recipes have apples in them, but I think the squash is quite sweet on its own, so as this is supposed to be a savoury tart – no apples.

Curried prawn and coconut tart

(Serves 4)

200g plain flour
Curry powder, hot or mild aspreferred
Salt
100g butter
3 eggs
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
2 tbsp mango chutney, chopped
400g can coconut milk
500g bag frozen cocktail prawns, defrosted
100g cooked green beans, cut in 2cm lengths
6 spring onions, thinly sliced
1 green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
8 large fresh prawns, cooked and peeled

Sift the flour, a teaspoon of curry powder and a pinch of salt into a bowl and rub in the butter, then mix to a dough with iced water. Turn the dough out on to a floured surface, knead gently, then roll the pastry to fit a fairly- deep 23cm tart tin or four individual tart tins. Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200˚C and put in a baking sheet. Prick the base of the pastry all over with a fork, line it with crumpled greaseproof paper and baking beans and stand the tart on the hot baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the paper and beans and continue to bake for five more minutes or until it’s cooked through and lightly browned. Lower the oven temperature to 190˚C.

Beat the eggs with a tablespoon of curry powder, the ginger and mango chutney, then stir in the coconut milk. Mix together the cocktail prawns, green beans, spring onions and chilli, then scatter them into the pastry case and pour over the coconut mixture, forking it gently through. Bake for about 30 minutes or until set. Top with the fresh prawns and serve hot or at room temperature.

Brie and butternut tart

(Serves 4 to 6)

300g puff pastry
1 small butternut squash, about 900g
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 large onion, halved and sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, crushed
8 sage leaves, shredded, or 1 tsp dried sage
200g wedge of brie
2 large eggs
250ml carton cream
Grated nutmeg
Sage leaves to garnish

Roll the pastry out thinly so that it’s large enough to fit a pizza tin or large Swiss roll tin. Line the tin with the pastry and chill in the fridge for at least half an hour.

Heat the oven to 220˚C. Cut the butternut in half lengthways, then peel it, scrape out the seeds and fibres and cut it into half-moons a little less than 1cm thick. Brush the slices generously with oil, put them in one layer on a large baking tray, season well with salt and pepper and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until tender. Leave them on the tray to cool.

Fry the onion in a little oil until it has softened. Stir in the garlic and fry for a minute more, then let it cool.

Spread the cooled onion evenly over the pastry, then arrange the butternut slices on the onion and scatter over the sage.

Cut the cheese into thin wedges and arrange them on top of the butternut. Beat the eggs and cream together, season well with salt and pepper and pour the mixture over the tart.

Sprinkle with a little grated nutmeg and bake for about 20 minutes until the pastry is golden and puffy and the topping is browned. Scatter over the sage leaves and serve cut into wedges or squares.

Sausage and vegetable quiche

(Serves 4 to 6)

1 large red pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
4 small Maltese zalzett or 8 large pork sausages, or a mixture
1 onion, chopped
Large handful of frozen peas
1 long zucchino, about 125g
1 tbsp chopped parsley
Pinch dried chilli flakes
23cm uncooked pastry case
3 eggs
200ml cream or half cream and half milk
2 tbsp Worcester sauce
Salt and pepper

Cut the pepper into quarters lengthways and discard the stalk and seeds. Put the peppers on a foil-lined grill pan, skin side up, and grill until blackened, then wrap in the foil. When they are cool enough to handle, pull off and discard the skin and slice the pepper into long thin strips.

Preheat the oven to 190˚C and put in a baking sheet. Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the sausages until browned all over. Transfer them to a plate. Add the onion to the pan and cook until softened but not browned. Slice the sausages into thin rounds (if using zalzett, cut them into small chunks), then put them into a bowl and add the peas. Quarter the zucchino lengthways and then slice it and add it to the bowl, together with the parsley and chilli flakes. Toss it all together and turn it into the pastry case.

Beat the eggs, cream and Worcester sauce together, season well with salt and pepper and pour all into the tart, forking it gently through.

Arrange the strips of pepper on top, stand the tart on the hot baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes until the pastry is brown and the filling is set. Serve warm or cold.