Cheesy Quiche Lorraine
Granted a bit of liberty has been taken with the ingredients for this Cheesy Quiche Lorraine but as with any quiche recipe you can use whatever meat, vegetables, fish or cheese you want. I've added leeks and cheese in a nod towards an amazing dish we had recently at Gastropub Tuulensuu. They called theirs a cheese pie but really it was an amazingly savoury cheesy quiche - and it was delicious.
Quiche has had a bit of a bad name in the past with memories of a soggy mess of overcooked vegetables and damp pastry putting everyone off. But it doesn't have to be! Making sure that the pastry case is fully cooked before adding the egg filling helps to make sure the bottom of the quiche is not soggy.
Quiche is delicious served warm from the oven but is equally as delicious as part of a picnic. Serve this delicious Cheesy Quiche Lorraine with a salad and if you want to be naughty some chips.
- 175 g plain flour
- 80 g butter
- 80 ml very cold water (more or less may be needed depending on flour and humidity)
- 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
- blind-baking peas/beans
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 140 g streaky bacon cut into 1cm pieces
- 1 onion chopped (approx. 80g)
- 1 leek sliced into rings (approx 150g)
- 80 g hard or semi-hard cheese (I used a mix of gruyère, parmesan and cheddar)
- 3 eggs
- 200 ml cream
- 50 ml milk
- 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
Add the flour and salt to a mixing bowl. Cut the butter into chunks and add to the flour.
Rub the flour and butter together between your fingers and thumbs to blend the two together. Don't worry if there are lumps - it doesn't need to be even.
Add the cold water and stir to form a loose ball. The dough only just needs to come together.
Transfer the dough ball to some cling film, wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Pre-heat your oven to 210ºC. Grease a suitable quiche dish with some butter.
My dish is glass and measured 24cm in diameterRemove the dough from the fridge and place on a floured surface. Roll out until about half a centimeter thick. Make sure it is big enough to comfortably cover the quiche dish.
Place the rolled dough into the quiche dish making sure to press into the corners of the dish. Make sure you don't pierce the dough - if you do you can patch it with some dough offcuts. Prick the base all over with a fork.
With some scissors cut the edge of the dough about 1 cm above the top of the quiche dish to give some room for dough shrinkage.
Use a piece of tin foil to cover the bottom of the dough. Add some blind-baking beans or peas.
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Then remove the tinfoil with the beans/peas and bake for a further 10-15 minutes until the dough is cooked and browning. If using a glass dish you can look from beneath to see that the dough is cooked through.
Set to one side to cool down before proceeding to make the quiche. If you add the egg mixture while the pastry is still hot it may start to cook.
Add the vegetable oil to a frying pan and put on a medium heat. Add the chopped bacon and fry until cooked through. Remove the bacon and set aside in a bowl.
Turn the frying pan down to a medium-low heat and add some more vegetable oil.
Add the sliced leek and onion and gently fry until softened. Be careful not to let anything catch otherwise you will have an acrid taste to the quiche.
Once softened and starting to caramelize remove from the pan and set aside in a bowl.
Add the eggs, cream, milk and salt to a bowl and whisk thoroughly to incorporate the ingredients.
Add the grated cheese to the bottom of the pastry shell. Top with the onion and leek, and fried bacon.
Pour the egg mixture over the top making sure it doesn't spill over.
Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until the top is golden and the egg mixture is set. You can test for doneness by pricking the egg with a skewer. When you pull the skewer out it should be clean and hot.
When cooked remove from the oven and set aside to rest for 10 minutes.
Serve warm with a salad and chips.