Quiche Lorraine, A Recipe You Must Try

With smoky bacon, nutty Gruyère, and shallots, this classic french quiche Lorraine is ideal for brunch, dinner, or anytime in between, and it’s especially good paired with a green salad and crisp white wine. Before we get into the recipe, you should know that using a store-bought crust is okay, because sometimes making a homemade crust is time-consuming. Now let’s get into it!

Ingredients

1 recipe pie dough or a prepared frozen pie crust

1/2 pound (225 g) bacon

1 cup (235 ml) milk

1/2 cup (118 ml) heavy cream

3 eggs

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup (113 g) grated gruyere or other cheese

1 heaping tablespoon chopped chives

Preparation

Prepare the dough: If you are making your own pie crust, roll out the pie dough into a 12-inch round. Place it in a 10-inch wide, 1 1/2-inch high tart pan, pressing the dough into the corners. Use a rolling pin to roll over the surface of the tart pan to cleanly cut off the excess dough from the edges. Freeze for at least 30 minutes before blind-baking.

Pre-bake the frozen crust: If you are pre-baking a homemade crust, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line the frozen crust with heavy duty aluminum foil. Allow for a couple inches to extend beyond the sides of the tart or pie pan. Fill the tart pan with pie weights such as dry beans, sugar, or rice. Bake for 40 minutes. Then remove from the oven.

Cook the bacon: Slowly cook the bacon in medium heat, turning the strips over occasionally until they are nicely browned and much of the fat has rendered out.

Lay the cooked strips of bacon on a paper towel to absorb the excess fat. Chop the cooked bacon crosswise into 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch pieces.

Now that the bacon is cooked, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Make the filling: Whisk the eggs in a large bowl. Add the nutmeg, salt, black pepper and chives and whisk a little more. Add the milk and cream and whisk vigorously to incorporate and introduce a little air into the mix – this keeps the texture of the quiche light and fluffy.

Put filling in pre-baked crust: Arrange the bacon and cheese in the bottom of the pie crust. Whisk the egg-milk mixture hard again for a few seconds, then pour it gently into the pie crust. You want the bacon and cheese to be suspended in the mix, so you might need to gently stir it around just a little. You also want the chives, which will float, to be evenly arranged on top, so move them around with a spoon until you like where they are.

Bake:

Put the quiche into the preheated oven and bake for 30-40 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

If you've never made a quiche before, don't worry, it couldn't be easier. Especially if you're working with a prepared frozen crust. If not, it's still easy, it just takes more time and planning.