Quiche Lorraine

Today I'm going to show you how to make this bakery quality Quiche Lorraine! This quiche is simple, delicious and perfect for lunch. It keeps well in a lunchbox but is impressive enough to serve to guests. And thanks to some helpful tips, this will taste as good as Quiche Lorraine from a bakery. And it's perfect for Mother's Day coming up too! This is a pushy recipe Dear Reader.

Quiche Lorraine is a traditional quiche that comes from the rural Alscace-Lorraine region in North Eastern France. At the time that it was developed the area was actually in Germany and the word for Quiche actually comes from the word Kuchen which means cake in German. It was said to be a hearty dish designed to feed farmers. And while I recommend this Quiche Lorraine for Mother's Day it is also National Quiche Lorraine Day on May 20th!

The filling for a Quiche Lorraine is traditionally very simple: cream, eggs and bacon or lardons would be used. Onions aren't traditional in the filling and some would call a Quiche Lorraine with onions a "Quiche Alsacienne" instead. The key to the best Quiche Lorraine is using the right cream. For the silkiest mouth feel you want to use double cream, that is cream with at least 56% milk fat and use extra egg yolks as well as whole eggs. This makes it so incredibly creamy that it's an absolute dream to eat. You can see that the quiche is wobbly and barely set in the centre.

That is because all I want is savoury custard in my life and that's I kept in mind with this recipe. This version which I have to unashamedly have to say is my favourite, is barely set but completely cooked so that it's wobbly and delicious. Now some people think that adding cheese to Quiche Lorraine is terribly non traditional but all I can say that a) it tastes delicious, have you ever tried parmesan custard? and b) I'm not a traditional gal. I think a lot of the way that Australians cook is non traditional - we fuse so many cultures together that we don't really even think about it and it becomes second nature.

I did anger some French people recently with a recipe for whipped brie. Usually people want things to go viral but I've mentioned before that when things go viral, everyone comes out of the woodwork and that means everyone good and bad. If someone is rude they get blocked and I don't even entertain them and the French were aghast at the idea of whipping brie and they were very dramatic (I don't speak a lot of French but "sacrilege!" was muttered a lot). But in another corner I had the Americans who absolutely loved the idea of this whipped brie (which actually came from Thomas Keller of The French Laundry where it is served). Now I don't know about your thoughts but I'd rather the French mad at me than the Americans because Americans can be super vocal and we both speak the same language. Any French insults hurled in one ear sort of bounced off me.

But I remembered this saying that Ivy once taught me. It's a Southern saying, "Bless your heart" which really means "Go to Hell" but in a smiling Southern way. And Dear Reader I have embraced it. So whenever someone is rude, I just tell them in my sweetest voice (or words) "Bless your heart!" which does the job of confusing and mollifying them. And sometimes, just sometimes, they know exactly what you mean!

Anyway today is my birthday and I will be celebrating with delicious food. I know it may seem odd and self centered putting up a recipe with my name of it on my birthday but it's really for Mother's Day coming up!

So tell me Dear Reader, are you very traditional when it comes to food? Have you ever left a rude comment on anyone's social media? Have you ever received one?

Quiche Lorraine

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 60 minutes plus 2 hours waiting time

Cooking time: 80 minutes

Serves: 8 people

For Pastry

• 280g/9.9ozs plain all purpose flour
• 225g/8ozs butter, cold and cubed
• 140g/4.9ozs cream cheese

For Filling

• 350g/12.3ozs bacon cubes or lardons
• 1 teaspoon oil
• 200g/7ozs white or brown onion, diced
• 600ml/21flozs double cream (56% milk fat)
• 65g/2.3ozs finely grated parmesan cheese
• 3 large eggs
• 4 egg yolks
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

Step 1 - Grease a 25cm diameter x 5.5cms high/9.8inch diameter x2 high inch tart dish with a removable base. I usually line the base with parchment just in case unless it's a new tin.

Step 2 -Place the flour and butter in a food processor and pulse until you get a fine, sandy texture. You can also do this by hand by rubbing together the butter into the flour or using a pastry cutter. Add in the cream cheese and pulse until it starts to form small balls. Knead on a table and shape into a ball. Cover with cling film and rest for 1 hour at room temperature. Roll out the pastry between two large sheets of parchment making sure that there is enough pastry to fit the tin and the sides and a little bit more. Gently place into the prepared tin and gently push down to the corners making sure to lift and not pull and tear the pastry.

Step 3 -Trim the pastry but have some hangover (as shown) and reserve a little uncooked pastry and store in a ziplock or container (this is to patch any gaps). Cover and refrigerate the pastry in tart tin for 1 hour. You can also chill overnight if you prefer.

Step 4 -Preheat oven to 180C/350F fan forced. Dock the pastry lightly with a fork and then cover with foil or parchment and add dried beans or ceramic beads. Bake for 15 minutes. Then remove the foil and bread and bake for 10 minutes until the centre is baked. Let it cool for 10 minute and then with a sharp, serrated knife, trim off the excess pastry so that it sits flush against the top of the tin. If there are any gaps, patch them with the reserved pastry.

Step 5 -To make the filling place a frying pan on medium high heat and add the bacon and cook for 5-6 minutes and the place in a bowl. Then add a bit of oil and sauté the onion on medium heat - you don't want the onion caramelising but you want both the onion cooked through. In a large bowl whisk the cream with the eggs and yolks to loosen the thick cream and then mix in the salt, parmesan cheese and cooked onion. Add in most of the bacon reserving about 1/3 cup to add on top later.

Step 6 -Lower oven temperature to 150C/300F fan forced. Pour the creamy bacon filling into the cooked tart case and gently slide it into the oven (I also place the quiche tin on another tray in case to avoid drips in the oven). Bake for 25 minutes, then rotate in oven and bake for another 15 minutes. Then scatter the remaining bacon cubes on top and bake for another 5-10 minutes or until the centre is slightly wobbly but set. Serve hot, warm or cold.