Quiche Lorraine

Quiche Lorraine is a savoury flan which originated in the area of Lorraine in France. This is a good basic recipe for quiche; serve a small wedge with a light salad for a first course. It can be served warm, hot or cold. The pastry case can be "baked blind", cooled and stored in an airtight container for about a week. If weather is humid, store in refrigerator. The quiche is at its best freshly made, then baked, but for convenience it can be frozen. We found the best results were obtained by placing the filling into the baked pastry case, still in the flan tin. Freeze uncooked quiche uncovered for 1 hour (flan tin can be removed at this stage if desired), wrap quiche tightly, freeze for up to 4 weeks. To bake: Place uncovered frozen quiche (in its flan tin) on oven tray, bake at 180°C for about 50 minutes. This recipe is unsuitable to microwave.

		PASTRY
1.75 cups		plain flour
155 g		butter
1		egg yolk
2 tsp		lemon juice
		FILLING
1		onion
3 rashers		bacon
3 whole		eggs
300 ml		cream
.5 cups		milk
.75 cups		cheese

1	Prep: Finely chop onions. Chop bacon and grate cheese.
2	Pastry: Sift flour into bowl; rub in butter. Add egg yolk and enough lemon juice to make ingredients cling together. Knead gently on lightly floured surface until smooth, cover, refrigerate 30 minutes. Roll pastry large enough to line a deep 23cm flan tin. If weather is hot and pastry is difficult to handle, roll pastry between 2 pieces plastic wrap or greaseproof or baking paper. Lift pastry into flan tin, gently ease pastry into side of tin; do not stretch the pastry or it will shrink during the cooking.
3	Use the rolling pin to trim the edges of pastry neatly. Place flan on oven tray for easier handling. Cover pastry with greaseproof or baking paper, fill the cavity with dried beans or rice. This is called "baking blind". Bake in moderately hot oven for 10 minutes, remove paper and beans carefully, bake pastry for about further 10 minutes or until golden brown; cool to room temperature. Cool the beans or rice; store in an airtight container for future use when "baking blind".
4	Filling: Cook onion and bacon in frying pan until onion is soft. Drain away excess fat, cool before spreading into pastry case.
5	Beat eggs in bowl with whisk, add cream, milk and cheese, whisk until just combined; pour into pastry case. Bake at 180°C for about 35 minutes or until filling is set and brown. Stand quiche 5 minutes before removing from tin.

Servings: 8

Ready in: 1 hour and 30 minutes