14 July 2009
Recipe for Yellow Sunny Quiche Lorraine
It was a beautifully, sunny morning today. The sun infused the morning with a wonderfully warm light. I gave me the urge to make quiche (or qwich as some people I know want to call it). This is an earthy lunch to make that can be eaten over a few days cold or reheated; it's ideal to take to work for a nutritious packed lunch togther with a simple green salad or a tomato & basil salad.
The basic quiche
Ingredients
350g shortcrust pastry, thawed if frozen
250ml milk
150ml double cream
2 whole free range eggs
1 free range egg yolk
175g grated cheddar cheese, or gruyere (I actually do a mix of cheddar and gruyere or Jarlsberg)
1 mild onion, finely chopped
175g rindless bacon, chopped into 1-2cm dices
1tbsp sunflower oil
Salt & Steenbergs black pepper, to taste
Preheat the oven to 200oC. Roll out the pastry and line a 20cm flan tin. Prick the pastry a few times, put some dry beans in the base to allow you to bake and bake for about 15 minutes. The beans put some density into the pastry to prevent to pastry base from going out of shape while baking blind.
Reduce the heat of the oven to 160oC.
Heat sunflower oil in frying pan. Fry the onions until translucent, then remove with slotted spoon. Fry the bacon bits until crisp, then remove with a slotted spoon.
Put the milk, cream and eggs into a mixing bowl and lightly whisk. Add half the cheese, the fried onions and bacon and lightly whisk. Then pour into the baked pastry. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the filling.
Bake for 30 minutes or more until set.
Other ideas for quiche
The basic quiche above is a delicious simple piece of country fare that is great hot or eaten cold for a picnic or after harvesting (not that many of us harvest these days except perhaps in the allotment).
But you can use this underlying theme to create an infinite variety of flavours, so here are some additional ingredients you could use:
1 red pepper, seeded and very finely sliced; roasted in oven
5 asparagus tips, lightly fried in olive oil
2 large tomatoes, thinly sliced
2 courgettes, thinly sliced and lightly fried in olive oil
