Quiche Lorraine is one of our favourite extravagent dinners. We only eat it a few times a year due to its fattening qualities (just look at the ingredient list!). I could undoubtably lighten it, but quiche is one of those dishes that I feel should be done properly or not at all. A good quiche should have a voluptuous and rich custard that wobbles slightly when cut into. This is best achieved with copious amounts of cream and a minimum of eggs.
My recipe isn't authentic; the original Quiche Lorraine did not contain any Gruyere or other cheese. I've eaten absolutely authentic Quiche Lorraine before which was very nice, but not as voluptuous and rich as those made with plenty of cheese. I'm quite prepared to sacrifice authenticity for yumminess.
The nice thing about quiche is that you can put as much or as little effort into making it as you want. You could lovingly make your own pastry and mess around with rolling it out, or you could buy some readymade pre-rolled shortcrust pastry and use that instead. And when it comes to the filling, you could buy packets of bacon and snip them up, or you could just buy a nice pack of ready-cut lardons and cook those instead. So much easier, and it tastes just as good as one that has been utterly slaved over.
A nice addition would be sauteed onions - I believe this would then be a Quiche Alsacienne - or just omit the bacon and use a mixture of lightly sauteed vegetables for a nice vegetarian quiche.
Quiche Lorraine
Serves 6 (or 4, as a main course)
23cm tart case, baked blind (don't remove it from the tart tin)
250g smoked streaky bacon, rind removed and cut into 1cm dice
300ml whipping cream
150ml milk
3 medium eggs
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon grainy mustard
freshly ground black pepper
175g Gruyere cheese, grated
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5/190C. Separate out the pieces of bacon, place them in a large frying pan and cook over a very low heat until the fat starts to render out of the bacon. Turn up the heat to medium and cook until the bacon colours up nicely and is crisp. You can drain off the fat if you like. Scatter the bacon evenly on the base of the tart case.
Whisk together the remaining ingredients, except the cheese, until smooth. (You shouldn't need to add any salt, the bacon and the cheese provide this.) Whisk in half the cheese, then pour the custard into the tart shell. Scatter the remaining cheese on top and bake for 35 minutes until golden and puffy.
Remove the collar and leave the quiche to stand on the metal base for at least 10 minutes. The quiche is at its best warm, not hot.
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Ohhhh someone remind me not to come and look at your web page when it's late and night and i'm on a diet!
Do you know how hungry I am now, looking at that quiche? It looks positively DROOLSOME! :)
*sobs and looks at a limp lettuce leaf*
1. Posted by Neighbour of Teh Hoors on November 20, 2007
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I agree with you that quiche is one of yummy desserts.
I like it also.
2. Posted by catherine on November 20, 2007