Quiche Lorraine : The Guilty Pleasure

I still remember the shabby old patisserie on one famous shopping centre in the old days where I used to hang around after school. This shop quite small with 2-3 round table for coffee cupping and usually deserted. People preferred to take away their pastry instead of sitting down and have chit chat. The display itself was my own feast -young girl with much appetite- : danish pastry with peach, plain croissant, fruit pie, chicken curry pie, strawberry danish, quiche lorraine, etc etc. But the “buttery” smell along the alley gave extra pleasure for me, like my cat when driven by her whiskas pouch dinner.

Instead of buying their famous croissant, I fell in love with the quiche. Small flan pastry, yellow tone with brown spots, the appearance made me drooling already. The creamy taste filling and ham strips combine with delicious outer crust pie made my first bite lasts forever until now. From that time, I used to search or scanned any quiche lorraine displayed when visiting other pattiserie or bakery shop. And I could not find any better than theirs. Some of the pastry maker now bake them unproperly, either too soft or too crusty. And the most intolerable thing: substitute proper cream.

In search of the original one, I pledge myself to explore the recipe from my cookbooks on shelf. Our first quiche turn into overcooked pastry flan. As written, gas marked on 180 C and turn out baking time extended to almost an hour with the overcooked result. We suggest you to set the temperature 200 or 220 C to speed up the process. The tricky parts lies on how to lining perfect pastry over the base. It is one of most important thing because if you failed, the cream mixtures will flow all over the base.

Quiche Lorraine

This open tart originated in the Lorraine region around 16th century. The name quiche come from the german word “kuchen” meaning cake. A quiche can contain many fillings but a quiche lorraine is traditionally made with cream, egg, smoked bacon and is considered a classic of french cuisine

Prep time - 30 min
Cooking time - 1 hr 5 min
Serve 4-6

½ quantity shortcrust pastry (separate recipe)
1 egg beaten

Filling

Oil for cooking
180 g smoked bacon, rind removed and cut into thin strips
3 eggs
Nutmeg to taste
250 ml cream
80 g gruyere cheese grated

1. Lightly grease a 22 x 3.5 cm loose bottomed flan tin. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of 3 mm and line the prepared thin. Preheat oven to moderate 180 C, bake blind for 25 minutes or until firm. Remove the beans and paper, and brush the bottom of the pastry with the beaten egg. Bake for another 7 min.
2. To make the filling, heat a little oil in a frying pan. Saute the bacon, drain on paper towels and set aside. Whisk the eggs with the nutmeg and season with salt and pepper. Mix in the cream and strain throuh a sieve.
3. Sprinkle the bottom of the pastry with the bacon and cheese. Gently pour in the egg mixture until the pastry is three quarters full. Bake for about 20-30 minutes or until the filling is well coloured and is set. Serve hot.

Although we have to learn more to lining proper pastry crust, the taste resembles of guilty pleasure kind. Creamy, buttery, with legitimate smoky ham. Bon appetite!