French Village Quiche Recipe

I think I have turned a moment of total disorganisation into a moment of domestic godessness! We are on our second of two bank holidays today, and in France a bank holiday means all shops are closed (although it is becoming common to find a supermarket open in the morning). As I heard many mutterings of yesterday morning being manic at the local supermarket I was guessing today it was likely to be closed all day and the meager offerings from the fridge made me panic a little. Add to this Ed has a couple of friends over, Ade is back from his part week in Brussels (so that is three more mouths to feed than yesterday) and I realised not shopping since last Thursday was a bit of a fail. Thankfully the chickens are on top form so we have eggs a plenty and I always like to keep some basics (flour, butter, onions, lardons) to hand, so what could be better than a homemade quiche with buttery pastry to grace our lunch table today – yes! I think I got away with it, especially as there were also enough ingredients to bake the Provencal Olive Oil cake too, see here for recipe.

This quiche is very easy, very tasty and a regular for us during the summer, when I add thinly sliced courgettes on top of the onions and lardons.

Homemade French Village Quiche

For the pastry – you can use ready made puff or short crust pastry, but I like to make my own (short crust). This makes enough pastry for a rectangular tin 27cm (10 ½”) by 17cm (6 ½”) and 3.5cm deep (1 ½”) – this is my preferred tin for all quiches/tarts.

135g plain flour

75g butter

1 egg beaten

a little cold water

Using cold fingers rub the butter into the flour until breadcrumb like consistency. Add the egg and enough water to just bring it to a dough. Wrap in clingfilm and leave to rest for at least half an hour in the fridge.

Line the tin with baking paper, then roll out the chilled dough on the paper. Fit into the tin, prick the base with a fork, line with more baking paper, add baking beans and bake blind until the edges of the pastry are just turning golden. This is about 10 minutes at gas mark 4, but my oven is not very reliable!

With the courgette slices

For the filling

Three onions finely sliced

100g of finely chopped lardons (streaky bacon)

2 courgettes (zucchini), washed and thinly sliced (optional)

Salt and pepper

3 large eggs

100ml of milk

Grated cheese (optional)

Cook the lardons in a pan, carefully removing them to a bowl but leaving the fat behind. Add the sliced onions, season with pepper and cook in the bacon fat until nicely sweated down. Place in the bowl with the lardons and mix thoroughly.

In a jug whisk the eggs and milk and season, but go easy on the salt if your bacon is salty.

When the pastry has had its first bake add the onion and lardon mix, sliced courgettes (if using) and then pour over the egg to cover. If you want to add a layer of grated cheese you can, but in the interests of our waistlines we don’t! Place back in the oven for about 25 mins, until the top is golden. Leave to cool a little before serving.

This makes a delicious lunch with a side salad, is perfect for picnics or as a starter and is a MUST for any aperos we host.

Quiche and salad lunch

Perfect apero nibbles