Bacon Quiche, in the French Style. #recipe #goodfood

This is a quick, relatively easy, recipe for a European-style quiche.

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First, set the oven to 400F (205C).
Then brown about 1 pound (1/3 Kg) bacon. I used a relatively meaty American bacon. In the UK it would be called streaky bacon. It’s sort of important to cook the bacon slowly so that it browns rather than burns. This gives you plenty of time for the next step.

While the bacon is cooking, make the crust.
I use a simple flour crust, similar to what I use for pies, but without any added sugar.

• 2 cups plain flour
• 1 stick (1/4 lb, 100g) margarine or butter. Sweet butter is probably not a good idea for this recipe
• 1/2 teaspoon (large pinch) salt.

Cut the margarine into the flour and salt. It should look like coarse corn meal, or actually, Masa Harina tortilla flour. I usually add a small amount of water, not enough to let the mix ball up, and then remove about 1/3 of the mixture. Then I’ll add enough water to the rest to form a plastic dough. (about 2 tablespoons the first addition and another 3 the second time.) Roll out the dough, put some of the dry mixture on it, fold over and roll out again. Do this several times until all the dry mixture is used up. (You can just add enough water and roll it out once, but this procedure makes it fluffier. It’s up to you.)

Shred about 1 cup of a strongly flavored cheese. In the US I use “Swiss Cheese” (which isn’t Swiss). In the UK I’d use a gruyere or something similar that wasn’t cheddar or leicester. I haven’t tried it, but I bet stilton or brie would be really good.

 

Put the bacon and cheese in the crust. Note that I have the torte shell on a thin baking pan. It will often spill a little bit in the oven, and it’s much easier to clean up a baking sheet than an oven.

Whip together six eggs, salt and pepper and pour it over the bacon and cheese.  Bake for 30 Minutes in the 400F (205C) oven