Eat Me: Bacon and Leek Quiche

These quiches are so delicious, you’ll want to eat them all the time. 

This recipe is adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Cookery Course, episode 12, which I caught on BBC America. You should check it out, too, he makes all sorts of delicious looking things. His recipe called for pancetta, which is twice as expensive as bacon at my grocery store, so we’re using bacon here. I did splurge on the gruyere, but you can probably substitute with swiss, gouda, or a blend of both. Hell, you can probably use any cheese you love, as long as it melts fairly smoothly. It takes a little time, but a lot of it can be done in advance.

For equipment, you’ll need a really good knife, a kitchen scale,  a skillet, a rolling pin, and tart pans. I use disposable, because I don’t own tart pans, and don’t make enough tart-like objects to justify purchasing some. YMMV. For ingredients, you’ll need flour, butter, salt, pepper, bacon, a leek, eggs, milk or cream, parsley, and gruyere chese.

For the Crust

Mix two sticks of slightly-cooler-than room temperature butter and equal parts flour, and a pinch of salt, by weight. Mix it by hand, because this is a great chance to get messy. When it’s mixed, turn it out on a cloth and knead 4-5 times. Form into a disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes. This is important! Chilling lets the butter set up a little bit, and makes the crust both easier to roll and tastier.

When the dough is chilled, cover a surface in a dusting of flour, rub some flour on your rolling pin, and all over your hands. Divide the dough into four sections, and roll each out to fit the tart pans you’re using. Roll it thin, about ¼ inch. Plop each rolled crust into a tart pan, and gently press it in place, making sure there are no holes or cracks. Overlap on the edges is fine, you can trim it after it cooks. Cover with foil, and weigh down the crust so it doesn’t swell up too much. You can use a pie chain, uncooked rice or uncooked beans. I have a container of “Weighty Rice” I use on all my pie crusts. Bake at 400° for twenty minutes, remove the weights (save your rice or beans, if you use them, for the next time you make a pie/tart/quiche) and foil, and pop them back in the oven for 10 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown all over. Set aside while you make the rest.

For the Filling

Cook ¼ pound bacon and one leek, chopped fine, until the bacon is super crisp and the leeks begin to caramelize. Pause to smell, because it’s luscious. Drain off the excess fat. Whisk together eight eggs with ¼ C. heavy cream, half and half, or milk. (I’ve used all three, depending on what I have around.) Add some salt and pepper to the egg mix, to taste. Grate 4 oz. of Gruyere in, as well. Mix in your bacon/leek mix and toss it around a bit until blended. Dice up a few sprigs of curly parsley, very, very fine, and sprinkle in. I forgot the parsley the first time I made these, and while the quiche was still OMGood, they’re way, way, way better with the parsley. It adds a little clean, green flavor that balances out the richness of the meat, eggs, and cheese.

Ladle the filling into the crusts. Leave a little bit of room on top, to prevent spilling while you wrangle them into the oven. Grate more Gruyere on top, and bake for 15-20 minutes at 400°. Jiggle the pan, if the quiche wobbles, it’s not done yet.

When they’re fully cooked, pull out of the oven and place on cooling racks for 10-15 minutes. This lets the quiche finish setting up, and also lets it get cool enough to eat without burning your mouth.

I usually serve these with a small garden salad, a little fresh fruit, and biscuits with apple butter. Enjoy!