Recipe: Quiche Lorraine

Quiche Lorraine is another of those dishes which we all grew (justifiably) to despise on the basis of the mass-market product that was churned out in the seventies - heavy pastry, generally woefully soggy, combined with salty cheese and stringy ham, all melded together in a thin baked custard. I can even recall attempts to liven it up by introducing a layer of sliced tomato, thus taking it even further away from the original idea....

In fact, Quiche Lorraine should be light and airy, unctuous and delicious, and contained within a crisp pastry shell that is lighter than air. Its rehabilitation is long overdue!

The following is a simplified version of the recipe given by Pomiane himself.

Ingredients: 2 sheets of Phyllo Pastry, approx 12" x 6" each; 25g melted Butter; 100g Lardons; 1 clove of Garlic; 2 large Eggs; 2 tablespoons of Cream; Salt & Pepper; half a tablespoon of Flour.

Method:

1. Using the Phyllo Pastry and melted Butter, make two individual pastry shells, and bake until properly browned. Remove the shells from the oven.

2. Increase the oven temperature to 220 degrees C, while you make the filling for the shells.

3. Fry the Lardons over high heat for a few minutes until they are crisp and brown. Mince the Garlic and add it to the Lardons for the last minute of cooking, stirring the Garlic round in the fat thrown off by the Lardons.

4. Whisk the Eggs in a bowl with the Cream. Add a generous pinch of Salt and a few grindings of Pepper, then add the Flour, and whisk to incorporate.

5. Divide the Lardons & Garlic between the two shells, then pour the Egg, Cream & Flour mixture over the Lardons. Place in the pre-heated oven. After five minutes, reduce the heat to 200 degrees C and continue to cook until the filling has risen significantly and the top has browned - this should take an additional ten minutes.

Serve.