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Place of origin: Champaine, Lorraine and Alsace
Quiche Lorraine is highly recognised as a classic and very famous french pie that has a good balance of light creamy filling and smoked bacon.
Lorraine region in France is famous for its cream, butter and eggs, pork, cakes and preserves, fruit and fruit flavoured schnapps. The best known and most copied meal of the region is a delicious Lorraine bacon pie.
The legend says that Quiche Lorraine was discovered by a baker in Nancy in the 16th century. Initially, it was prepared with ordinary bread dough and only later a plain pastry was used for the base. Traditionally a Lorraine pie tin with has a 18 cm diameter. Cooking the pie the tin is lined with pastry and the filling is then poured into the lining. It is made of a mixture of a cream, eggs and smoked bacon.
When Quiche Lorraine became popular throughout France, grated cheese originally was not used. The original recipes ware based on three products - butter, eggs and smoked bacon. The bacon owes its quality to hundred of years of experience. Until now the Lorraine quiche has still the samecombination of ingredients that consists of smoked bacon, butter, eggs and grated cheese.
Preparing the quiche to be served later you have to bake 5 minutes less than prescribed till the moment when the filling is just set. Quiche is reheated at 190◦C (350 ◦F) for 5-7 minutes before serving.
Ingredients for the pastry
150 g plain (all purpose flour), sifted
5 tablespoon (75g) butter, cut into small pieces
1 egg
a pinch of salt
Ingredients for the filling (serves 2-4)
150 g lean smoked bacon
2 eggs
salt and black pepper, freshly milled
around 1/2 cup grated cheese to taste
150 g Сrème fraîche
a pinch of nutmeg
Method
To make the pastry, sieve the flour into a bowl and press out a hollow in the middle. Add a pinch of salt, 1 egg and cut butter into small pieces. Knead all the ingredients together until smooth shaping the pastry dough into a ball. Place in a plastic wrap and leave in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.
Roll out the dough on a clean lightly floured work surface to a thickness of at least about 3mm. Lightly butter a 18cm diameter quiche pan. Press the pastry gently into the sides and base of the tin trimming off the excess of the pastry. Prick the pastry base all over with a fork.
Preheat the oven to about 200 â—¦C (350 â—¦F). . Bake the pastry base of the quiche for about 10 minutes until golden brown before filling.
Meanwhile, cut the rind from the bacon and dice the bacon. Brown lightly in a pan. Beat remaining 2 eggs, stir in a creme fraiche and season with nutmeg and pepper. Add salt if necessary.
Spread the diced bacon on the pastry, sprinkle with grated cheese to taste, pour on the mixture of eggs and cream. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes. When the filling is puffed up and golden brown, remove the quiche from the oven and top with small cubes of butter. Leave to stand for a few minutes before serving. Serve hot.
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