Quiche Lorraine

Quiche Lorraine is a classic savoury dish, which always goes down well in the summer with a seasonal salad. Making this Quiche Lorraine recipe is simple and straight-forward, just blind bake the pastry case and egg wash it to seal. This protects the pastry from the creamy quiche filling and keeps it crisp. Use a good quality smoked streaky bacon for a good depth of flavour to cut through the cream.

To add cheese or not? Gruyère cheese is the cheese which is most often used in a quiche, and so if any cheese can claim the right to be classed as a traditional addition to the quiche it is Gruyère cheese. However, this is not the end of the story, looking up a few references it seems Elizabeth David in 1960 argued that although cooks from Paris and England often added in Gruyère, “Lorrainers will tell you that this is not the true quiche lorraine, whose history goes back at least as far as the sixteenth century”. We will leave it up to you, we just happen to believe that the traditional English version of a quiche lorraine has cheese baked in it.

Quiche Lorraine Recipe

Serves 5 – You need a deep 23cm loose-based fluted tart tin (the deeper the better to get a real depth to the filling).

Recipe Ingredients:

for the quiche filling

• 230g smoked streaky bacon (trimmed and cut into small pieces)
• optional: 75g Gruyère cheese (grated)
• 330ml double cream
• 70ml milk
• 4 large eggs (beaten)
• 3 egg yolks (beaten)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion (very finely diced)
• pinch of sea salt (ground)
• pinch of freshly ground black pepper

see this masterclass on making shortcrust pastry

• 270g plain flour (plus extra for dusting)
• 100g butter (cut into cubes)
• 50g lard (cut into cubes)
• 1 large egg (beaten)
• small pinch of sea salt (ground)
• a little cold water

• egg yolk (beaten to glaze)

Recipe Method:

To make the shortcrust pastry:see this masterclass on making shortcrust pastry. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and sprinkle in the ground sea-salt. Rub the butter and lard into the flour with your finger-tips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the beaten egg and beat gently in until the mixture is just beginning to come together in a ball, add a little cold water (1 tbsp or so) and bind the dough together if needed. Remove the dough from the bowl, shape it into a slightly flattened ball. Cover the ball in cling film and place it in the fridge to chill for twenty minutes.

Grease the 23cm tart tin lightly with butter.

Flour your work-surface. Roll out the pastry very thin in a square – as big and as thin as you can go without breaking the pastry. Fold it in half, then half again, so it is back in a square. Roll out this pastry square to make a round disc (about 7 mm thick) so that it is just bigger than the tart case. Using the rolling pin, lift the pastry and place it into the prepared tart tin. Gently work it into the tin, pressing it well into the sides and flutes. Do not trim away too much excess pastry over-hang – leave some overhang to minimise shrinkage when blind baking. Then very lightly prick the base of the tart with a fork. Place the pastry lined tin in the fridge and chill for 30 minutes

Preheat the oven to 200°C

Take the tart tin out of the fridge, cover the pastry base in baking parchment and completely fill it with baking beans (or similar – rice or pulses) then place on a baking tray and bake blind for 25 minutes at 200C. Once baked remove the beans and paper, trim the pastry edges of the excess over-hang and then brush over the inside of the pastry case with the beaten egg yolk – then return the pastry to the oven for a further 5 minutes to seal. Take the sealed pastry case out of the oven to cool.

Make the quiche filling: in a large non-stick frying pan heat the oil over a low-medium heat and gently fry the onion and bacon together until lightly browned, stirring regularly. Remove from the heat and tip onto a plate with two sheets of kitchen towel to drain, and leave to cool.

Preheat the oven to 170°C – place the sealed pastry case back on the baking tray if removed.

Put the cream, milk, eggs and egg yolks into a mixing bowl and whisk until well combined, light and frothy. Season with ground sea-salt and pepper.

Spoon half of the drained onion and bacon into the pastry case, (reserve the remaining half to gently drop into the the cream filling at the end) and spread them out evenly over the base. Optional: scatter the grated cheese over. Then very slowly pour in all the egg and cream mixture – add the remaining bacon and onion – then carefully place in the oven. If you want to completely avoid spills, only three-quarters fill the case with the egg and cream mixture, then place the baking tray in the centre of the oven, with the oven shelf pulled out just a little way, and pour in the rest – add the bacon and onion. Carefully push the shelf back in and gently move the baking try to the centre of the shelf.

Bake in the oven at 170C for 35 to 40 minutes. This is until the quiche filling is just beginning to brown on the top, and the filling has just lost its wobble, with no liquid still visible. Take the quiche out of the oven and leave it to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before carefully removing. To do this place the bottom of the tart tin on a tall tin-can and gently ease the sides down over the can, and then using a palette knife loosen the Quiche from the removable base. Serve either warm or cold.