There are two elements to this dish, the crust, and the filling. The crust is a short crust pastry and should be rich and savoury, providing the essential crunchiness. The filling should be light, fluffy and full of bacon flavour without being too heavy on the palate.
For the crust:
- 125g butter
- 250g of flour
- pinch of salt
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp cold water if needed
In a chopper attachment, blend together the butter, flour and salt until a fine breadcrumb texture is reached. Add the egg and or water and blend so that a dough forms. The dough should not be sticky and can be easily pushed together. All the loose flour will be absorbed, but no dough stuck to the sides.
Roll out and line the pie tin with the pastry. Weigh down with rice (I usually never bother with this) and bake at 230 degrees for about 10 minutes.
For the filling:
- a knob of butter
- 300ml cream (possible to substitute with milk)
- 3 eggs + 2 egg yolks
- 100g bacon (I just used a handful, chopped up)
- 1 onion (on the small side)
- a handful of chopped leek (use as much or as little as you'd like)
- 2 cloves garlic, grated
- 1 handful of gruyere cheese (any other cheese can be used too)
- pinch of salt and pepper
How finely you chop your vegetables will affect the taste of your quiche. If you want a more chunky, wholesome quiche, chop them roughly.
Crisp up the bacon. Add the butter and saute the vegetables until translucent. Blend the eggs, cream, cheese, salt and pepper so that everything is nicely incorporated (I find that using the blender also results in a much lighter quiche). Mix the vegetables in and place into the crust.
Bake at 180 degrees for half an hour, until set.
