quiche lorraine

Eggs, light cream, bacon, cheese, pie dough... what's not to love? Although I am a complete boxed cake mix snob and will never use the stuff, I must confess that I used the unroll and bake pie dough from Pillsbury. Sundays are a weird day for cooking in my house since we are at church from 7:30 a.m. until around noon and then back to church from 3:30 p.m. until around 6 p.m. We usually have leftovers for lunch and something easy for dinner. This was the something easy for dinner yesterday. I was actually impressed with the unroll and bake pie dough. Not exactly homemade, but really very good and much better than the frozen pie dough in the disposable pie pans, in my humble opinion. I blind baked the crust for 10 minutes to keep it from getting soggy.

Quiche Lorraine

10 strips of bacon cooked crisp and crumbled
1 cup or 4 ounces of cheese - Gruyere is traditional but sharp cheddar or Swiss will do
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups of half and half
1/2 teaspoon of salt
cracked black pepper
ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon chopped flat leaf parsley
pie dough for 1 9 inch pie pan

Heat oven to 350. Place the pie dough into an 11 inch tart pan (you know, the kind with a removable bottom) and press into curves around the edge. Place in the freezer for 5 minutes. Take a fork and dock the pie dough all over being careful not to cause any large holes or tears in the dough. Line the pie dough with foil and fill with beans or rice or pie weights or whatever. Place in preheated oven for 7 minutes and then lift off the foil with the beans or whatever and place back in the over for 3-5 more minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk the eggs, half and half, salt and pepper together combining well. Once the pastry is blind baked, sprinkle the bacon over distributing it evenly and the same with the cheese. Pour over the egg mixture, being careful not to run over between the pastry and the pan. Sprinkle liberally with ground nutmeg and parsley. I cook it on the top oven rack for 30-40 minutes or until the center is set and the top is golden brown and slightly puffy. Don't overcook it or it will taste terrible.

Here it is served with bread and a spinach, mushroom and tomato salad with buttermilk dressing.