Quiche Lorraine

Place the flour into a bowl and make a hollow in the middle of it. Add a pinch of salt, two eggs, and the butter. Knead everything together, forming a ball. Press the ball flat and form into a ball again. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.

Then roll out the chilled pastry to about 1/8 inch thick. Grease two 7 inch cake pans with butter. Or you can use a quiche mold. Line pans with pastry and trim the excess pastry if there is an overhang. You can make pretty crimped edges if you want, but in a 7 inch cake pan it’s more difficult than if you use a pie pan. Besides, I love the rustic look of the plain crust edge around this quiche.

Prick the pastry all over with a fork, and preheat your oven to 430 degrees F.

While the oven is heating, dice the bacon, and brown it lightly in a pan over medium heat. Then remove it from the pan and drain on paper towels.

Beat the 4 eggs in a bowl, stir in the crème fraîche and season with nutmeg, pepper and a little salt. Don’t go overboard. Add the salt sparingly. Remember bacon is salty.

Go ahead and pre-bake your pastries a little, if you want. Put them into your preheated oven for 6 or 7 minutes. Then remove them from the oven and spread the diced bacon and grated cheese over the pastries, and pour the egg mixture over this.

Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes. Place foil over the edges of the crusts after about 10 minutes to prevent excess browning.

Serve hot, room temperature, or even cold!

These quiches are small – they serve only about 2.5 people each. They’re thin rather than thick. They are more authentically French than some of the American quiches we eat here. I think its simplicity is what I love about it. It’s just a few really good things blended together and baked in a shell!