S&R: Quiche Lorraine

Quiche Lorraine is a summer time staple in our house. I'm not sure why but it always reminds me of light summer lunches/dinners with salad or as cold finger food at barbecues. This quiche recipe is one that I make so much that the measurements are a little sketchy, as I just tend to eyeball everything. For the purpose of this bog post I'm going to try and be a little more precise with the ingredients.

You will need:

For the shortcrust pastry:

200g Plain Flour

110g Cubed Butter

A Pinch Of Salt

2-3 Tbsp Of Very Cold Water

For The Filling:

6-8 Eggs (Depending on the size of your eggs,or how eggy you like your quiche)

200g Smoked Lardons

2 Large Leeks

250g Mature Cheddar Cheese (Or whichever cheese you prefer.)

100ml Milk

Salt (to taste)

Black Pepper (to taste)

Herbs Of Your Choosing

Method:

To make the pastry place the flour, butter and salt in a food processor. Using the pulse setting, pulse the mixture until you get a breadcrumb like consistency.

Slowly add the water a little at a time until the mixture comes together in a bowl.

Once you get your ball, your dough is complete. Wrap in cling film and leave in the fridge to chill for around 30 minutes.

If you don't have a food processor, this easy to follow method should help, just adjust the measurements accordingly.

Whilst your pastry is chilling, fry the lardons. When the lardons are cooked add the chopped leeks and sauté just to get them coated in the lardon juices. Drain off on a piece of kitchen roll and leave to cool.

Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured surface. Grease your tin with a little butter and line your tin with the pastry. I adjust the measurements for my pastry, these measurements yield about 300g of pastry which I find is enough to fit my 25cm tin.

Don't cut the excess pastry off just yet. Place the pastry and tin into the fridge and chill for a further 10 minutes.

At this point you need to preheat your oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5.

Line the pastry case with baking parchment and fill with baking beads. Place on a tray and blind bake for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes remove the baking beads and parchment paper.

Crack an egg and whisk before giving the pastry an egg wash. Return to the oven for a further 5 minutes to finish cooking the base.

Remove your pastry and reduce the temperature of the oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3

You can add whatever you like to the filling of your Quiche, a traditional Quiche Lorraine contains smoked lardons and is named after the Lorraine region in France. Not after the Scottish television presenter Lorraine Kelly which I assumed as a child!

Most recipes have the addition of double cream as well as milk in their fillings, I don't.

I honestly don't feel like the quiche tastes any less delicious without the added cream. Also as a family we tend to like our quiche less creamy and more eggy. If that doesn't convince you to leave out the cream, cutting it out makes the end result a little less guilty.

Add the leek and lardon mixture (or filling of your choice) to the bottom of the pastry case.

In a suitably sized jug whisk the eggs milk and half of the cheese.

Season with salt, pepper and whatever herbs you'd like. I use a mix of Italian herbs, which is obviously not from the same region as a Quiche Lorraine but I like the taste.

Trim the edges of the quiche down and place on the open oven shelf, I find pouring the mixture whilst in the oven allows me to fill the pastry case right up and avoids me having to carry the full pastry case to the oven and spilling the filling.