Quiche Lorraine - Who stole my flan dish?

A lot of people seem to bad mouth the humble Quiche.  I have had a long love affair with this most majestic of pastry based dishes.  It is to this day the one thing I most associate with being at home at my mums.  Every week she?d bake one, we?d eat most of it for our supper then later that evening I?d steal the rest cold from the fridge.

Quiche Lorraine is probably the only real quiche a man can proclaim love for, that perfect combination of Bacon and Cheese there isn?t much not to like.  I?ve eaten them everywhere and at every opportunity, my first blog post was about one after all.

The best still is in Paris at a little Patisserie just round the corner from the Cartier Foundation.  Eaten whilst sat on a bench in the baking August sun it was quite heavenly.

This is my recipe, worked on for 20 years and I warn you now it?s not for those who are watching the calories.  Firstly for the pastry I have no qualms using shop bought, I made my own using suet this time but it doesn't really matter or make much difference.

Strangely I find Suet holds together that bit better than butter or lard based short pastry.  The simple rule of thumb no matter what fat you use is two thirds flour, one third fat.  You need to blind bake this before you think of putting in the savoury custard as well other wise the pastry will be extremely soggy.

Quiche Lorraine needs Bacon and Onions and Cheese!  Fry your Bacon Lardons in a dry pan to render out the fat, when they start to brown add some sliced onions to just sweat down till they almost caramelise.  I use two types of cheese; Gruyere cut into cubes for little cheesey pockets and grated mature Cheddar on top to help create a beautiful browned crust.

For the savoury custard I use single cream and 3 egg yolks, seasoned only with pepper the saltiness of the Bacon and deep savoury edge of the cheese lends all the other seasoning you need for this.  Mix the Bacon and onions together with the custard and pour into your blind baked pastry dish.

At this point throw in the Gruyere, nicely spaced out and grate the mature cheddar on top.  Bake at 160c till the top has started to go a rich golden brown in places and the custard has set.

This is fantastic warm or cold, you must always resist the urge to eat it straight away though otherwise it will fall to pieces, you must let it rest!

My favourite way to eat Quiche is just on a plate with a massive squidge of ketchup and a good glass of wine.  Perfect! 

Ingredients:
Pastry - Buy it or make your own but make sure it's Short.
Savoury Custard - Single Cream, Egg Yolks and Pepper.
Bacon Lardon
Sliced White Onion
Gruyere
Mature Cheddar