Quiche Lorraine

1 Rollout the dough, form into a tart pan, then freeze: If you are making your own pie crust, roll out the pie dough into a 12-inch round. Place it in a 10-inch wide, 1 1/2-inch high tart pan, pressing the dough into the corners.

Use a rolling pin to roll over the surface of the tart pan to cleanly cut off the excess dough from the edges.

Freeze for at least half an hour before blind-baking.

2 Pre-bake the frozen crust: (also called « blind » baking) If you are using a store-bought frozen crust, follow the directions on the package for pre-baking.

If you are pre-baking a homemade crust, preheat oven to 350°F. Line the frozen crust with heavy duty aluminum foil. Allow for a couple inches to extend beyond the sides of the tart or pie pan.

Fill tart pan with dry beans, sugar, or rice.

If you are using a pan with a removable bottom, place the pan on a rimmed baking sheet in the oven to catch any spillage.

Bake for 40 minutes. Then remove from oven, remove the pie weights (the easiest way to do this is to lift up the foil by the edges) and the foil, and set aside. (See further tips on how to blind bake a crust.)

3 Cook the bacon: Heat a large frying pan on medium heat. Arrange strips of bacon in a single layer on the bottom of the pan (you may need to work in batches or do two pans at once).

Slowly cook the bacon, turning the strips over occasionally until they are nicely browned and much of the fat has rendered out.

Lay the cooked strips of bacon on a paper towel to absorb the excess fat. Pour fat out of the pan into a jar (not down the drain, unless you want to clog the pipes) for future use, or wait until it solidifies and discard in the trash.

Chop the cooked bacon crosswise into 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch pieces.

4 Preheat oven to 350°F.

5 Whisk eggs, add nutmeg, salt, pepper, cream, milk: Whisk the eggs in a large bowl. Add the nutmeg, salt, black pepper and chives and whisk a little more. Add the milk and cream and whisk vigorously to incorporate and introduce a little air into the mix – this keeps the texture of the quiche light and fluffy.

6 Put filling in pre-baked crust: Arrange the bacon and cheese in the bottom of the pie crust.

Whisk the egg-milk mixture hard again for a few seconds, then pour it gently into the pie crust.

You want the bacon and cheese to be suspended in the mix, so you might need to gently stir it around just a little. You also want the chives, which will float, to be evenly arranged on top, so move them around with a spoon until you like where they are.

7 Bake: Put the quiche into the preheated oven and bake for 30-40 minutes. (If using pan with removable bottom, be sure to place a rimmed baking sheet underneath.)

Check for doneness after 30 minutes by gently jiggling the quiche. It should still have just a little wiggle. (It will finish setting while it cools.) Cool on a wire rack.

Eat at room temperature, cold (a quiche will keep for several days in the fridge), or reheated gently in a 200-degree oven.