Quiche

Hello my lovelies!

Happy weekend to you. 

We have a day of showers today.  What a good day for catching up with some baking. 

On a similar day during the week I baked a quiche.  I believe a gal needs a good quiche recipe in her arsenal and this is mine.  You may have your own tried and tested  recipe  but I thought I’d share this one with you as it’s super easy ... especially if you cheat fast-track and buy the base!

A quiche is an easy meal to rustle up quickly for a summer’s lunch and is perfect for a pot luck contribution. 

It’s maybe something you’d like to make this weekend; it’s a lovely summer’s day dish and usually all the ingredients are to hand.  

It’s equally good hot or cold, though I prefer it the second day cold as it feels truly summery eating it  cold with a nice side salad.  And this recipe makes a quiche for 4-6 people, depending on how ravenous you are feeling, so this quiche does us for several days. 

Quiche Lorainne

Ingredients 

Pastry:

150 gr sifted flour

Pinch of salt

75 gr cold butter, cut in small cubes

About 50-60 ml really cold water

NB: for speed you may prefer to use ready-made pastry or flan base. 

Filling:

80 gr bacon, cut in small pieces *

4 eggs, whisked and seasoned with salt and pepper

300 ml double cream or creme fraiche

120 gr grated cheese -  Gruyere, Emmental, nature cheddar, something with a bit of bite

Chopped herbs or parsley if desired

Cherry tomatoes, halved

* For a vegetarian option, substitute the bacon with soft-fried onions and maybe extra cheese 

Notes:

You will need a 20cm flan loose bottom flan tin, greased.

I use a food processor for the pastry for speed, but honestly it doesn’t take much longer to make pastry by hand and the process can be quite calming and therapeutic. 

Method

Preheat the over to 180c. 

Make the pastry case. 

 Mix the first three ingredients in a food processor until the mix resembles fine breadcrumbs, about 30 seconds.  Trickle in the water till the mix balls together.  It will be quite sticky at this stage so place the ball in a floured covered bowl and leave in the fridge for minimum  30 minutes whilst you prepare the other ingredients.

(You may prefer to use ready-made pastry; if so, ignore all of the above.)

Roll out on a floured board and line it on the greased flan tin. 

Prick the pastry base with a fork. 

(Don’t bother about finely trimming the edges, the pastry shrinks when cooking and I prefer a “rustic” edge as that proves it’s homemade!)

Blind bake for about 10 minutes then leave to cool.

(Or forget about all of this and just buy a ready-made tart base!)

Make the filling. 

Dot the bacon evenly around the pastry case. 

Whisk the cream/creme fraiche into the whisked eggs, the stir in the cheese and any herbs.

Pour carefully on to the pastry base, to leave the bacon evenly dispersed. 

Dot the halved tomatoes on top the filling.

Bake until golden brown on top, about 35-45 minutes. 

Serve with a crisp salad.

Enjoy!

A la perchoine, 

Mary x.