I had been scouring the internet for a while to find a decent Quiche Lorraine recipe, one which potentially did not include any cheese, onion, ham or anything which deviates from the original recipe. I was therefore extremely happy to stumble across Rachel Khoo’s recipe on YouTube, where she clearly states that a self-respecting Quiche Lorraine only comprises eggs, cream and bacon. If you add anything else to it, then it just is something else. Please have a look at the TIPS sections as I give out quite a lot of useful information!
Ingredients
- 90g unsalted butter, softened
- 1 tsp sugar
- pinch of salt
- 180g plain flour
- 2 eggs yolks (for the pastry)
- 1 egg white
- 150g bacon lardons OR pancetta cubes
- 4 eggs + 2 egg yolks
- 300ml double cream
- salt & pepper
Method
- In a bowl, cream the butter with the sugar and the salt.
- Next, add the flour, the egg yolks and a couple of tablespoons of cold water.
- Bring the mixture all together either using a wooden spoon or your bare hands (preferable!), then once you have reached a good consistency, wrap it in clingfilm and put in the fridge to chill and relax. Possibly overnight but, should you not have the time (or patience), one hour will do just as good.
- Once the pastry is ready to roll, take it out of the fridge and either place it between two sheets of baking parchment (as Rachel does) or use the standard method of dusting a work surface with some flour and rolling it out to fill a 23cm loose-bottom flan tin.
- Put the pastry case back into the fridge until you are ready with the filling.
- In a pan, fry the bacon lardons until crispy, then drain them on a piece of kitchen paper.
- In a bowl, beat the remaining eggs and egg yolks with the double cream. Season with salt and pepper.
- Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
- Prep your base for blind baking, then pop in the oven with the baking beans for about 10-12 minutes until the edges are crispy.
- Take out of the oven, remove the baking beans and brush the pastry case with the egg white, to prevent a soggy bottom. Pop back into the oven for another 10 minutes.
- Once that is done, take the pastry case out of the oven once again and scatter the lardons on the bottom, then pour in the filling.
- Bake for 40 minutes until nice and golden on the top.
- Remove from the oven and unmould using a jar or a tin.
- Serve while warm.
Tips
- In her recipe, Rachel rolls out the pastry for the case and then puts it into the tin. She then trims the edges prior to baking and chills it. This is fine if you do not intend to blind bake your pastry, as the filling will keep it in place. However, as I discovered, blind baking ensures the pastry is nice and crispy on the sides and bottom, which avoids the so-called soggy bottom. In this case, I would suggest not trimming the edges but leaving the pastry whole, then trimming it once it comes out of the oven after step 13.
- To roll out the pastry, Rachel relies on two sheets of baking parchment. She says this prevents creating a mess with flour and ensures the pastry doesn’t stick to the table. True, but I prefer using flour and seeing the pastry as we go. I gave her method a try, but the baking parchment ended up folding and creating creases all over, which were in turn transferred to the pastry.
Baking with Attitude 