Thursday, July 19, 2012

Quiche Lorraine

Quiche the way I like it

This was one of the first things I learned to do really well in the kitchen.  Every time I make quiche, all those around me will descend like wolves on my glorious creation.  So many are intimidated by this recipe, but once you've made quiche over and over again as I have, it is such a beautiful thing to know you can have truly amazing quiche whenever you fancy it.  This here is my favorite quiche ever.  It is your quintessential quiche with leeks, gruyere, and bacon.  What more could one possible ask for?  I know.  A glass of sparking  French wine to go with.  Ahhhhhh.




















My Mom's Pie Crust

5 ounces of flour
3 ounces of butter
3/4 ounce crisco
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 TBS sugar
2-3 TBS ice water

The Quiche

Lots of bacon
1 leek, very finely chopped (the whole thing, I do not spare a single part of the leek, it's all good)
1 TBS clarified butter
a splash of white wine
Salt and Pepper (to season the leeks)
1/2 ounce Gruyere, grated
2 ounces Emmentaler, grated
3/4 Cup heavy cream
3 large eggs
Salt, Pepper, and Nutmeg (to season the eggs)

Warm your carbon steel wok on medium over a gas flame.  Chop up your bacon into small bite size strips cutting against the stripes, making pieces about 1/4 wide and the wide of the bacon long.  Saute this bacon still it releases a good amount of fat, and has gone limp.  Now remove all the bacon from the wok.  Bring the wok to a steady medium high-ish heat.  Now working in a stage of 3 batches add the bacon back into the wok, allowing each batch to crisp and brown but not to burn.  Watch this the whole time. Remove each batch before adding the next one.  Have the crisp bacon plate be lined with paper towels.

Warm the butter in your cleaned out wok.  Once melted, add your chopped leek.  Season with a little salt, and a little pepper or nutmeg if you fancy.  Pop the lid on and allow this to sweat for a bit over low heat.  Now remove the lid, and splash in a bit of white wine.  Turn up the heat to medium and allow the  leeks to cook till very soft.  Set aside.

Take your quiche baking dish and oil it well.  This will help the crust to brown in the oven and to not stick as well.  Allow the crust to become quite cool in the fridge.  You can now roll out the whole pastry, or you can take bits of it, squish it about in the pan till the whole thing is covered in pastry.  Pop this into the freezer for about 4 to 10 minutes.  We just want it really cold, especially if you're like me and you just man handled the freekin' crust.  Now starting with Cheese put in alternating layers of cheese, bacon, and leeks. Now make the custard filling.  Whisk three eggs thoroughly and season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg as though you were going to scramble the eggs.  Now pour in the cream while whisking.  Slowly pour this over the filling.  There should be a good 1/4 inch gap between the filling and the top of the pie crust. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until everything is golden brown.  Allow this to sit for 10 minutes before serving.


 

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