
One of the steps in making Quiche Lorraine that I don’t like is having to pre-bake the pastry shell. You have to fill the pastry shell with dried beans or weights of some kind in your parchment lined dish. The pastry is baked until lightly cooked. My problem with this is that even with carefully following these instructions, the pie shell still shrinks and the edges no longer hug the top of the pie dish. I experimented with this quiche and am happy with the results.

The reason for pre-baking is to prevent the bottom crust from becoming soggy. With this quiche I preheated the oven to 425 degrees F. and turned my oven to the convection setting. If you don’t have a convection oven, the higher heat should be enough to help the crust along. After 15 minutes of baking I turned off the convection and lowered the temperature to 350 degrees F. to finish cooking. The bottom crust was not crispy, but it was not soggy either. That was enough for me to avoid the extra step of pre-baking.

My pie dish was a deep dish version so I felt that I needed lots of ingredients. I added sautéed leeks, an over abundance of bacon, Gruyére cheese and extra liquid. You can scale your ingredients to the size of your dish. Enjoy.
On another note, I want to apologize for not being here on my blog more often. I certainly do not want to give up this space that has meant so much to me over the last 10 years. But other responsibilities and time constraints make it hard for me to focus as often on my favorite outlet. Bear with me and I will try to be here is often as possible.
Quiche Lorraine
- Ina’s pie crust ( I halved this and left out the sugar) or a pre-made pie crust
- 8 slices of bacon, diced
- 2 large leeks, washed and sliced
- 4 large eggs or 3 Jumbo eggs
- 2 cups heavy cream or 1/2 and 1/2
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- Pinch ground nutmeg
- 4 oz Gruyère, shredded
Refrigerate the prepared pie crust before filling.
- In a medium nonstick sauté pan over medium heat, cook the bacon, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 10 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Pour off all but one tablespoon of fat from the pan. Add the leeks and cook over medium-low heat until soft and translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Do not brown. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the heavy cream or 1/2 and 1/2, salt, cayenne pepper, and nutmeg; whisk until evenly combined.
- Spread the leeks evenly over the bottom of the crust. Top with the bacon, and the Gruyère. Pour the egg/cream mixture over top.
- Slide the quiche into the oven and bake at 425°F for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 30 to 40 minutes until the top is slightly browned and the center is set.