Quiche – A Thrifty Full of Flavour Classic Recipe

Everyone needs a great recipe for quiche and this is mine, a thrifty full of flavour classic quiche recipe that lights up every face at the dinner table!

Why Make Quiche At Home?

…especially when the supermarkets sell so many varieties of quiche and all you have to do is pop it in the oven and 30 minutes later, voila…it’s ready!

Well the best reason to make your own is because the flavour and texture will be far superior to anything a supermarket will sell you. Mass produced quiches are a huge disappointment with their watery, flabby fillings and lacklustre flavour. Need I say more?

This recipe makes a huge 23cm (9″) quiche, about 600g. Compare this to a supermarket quiche at only 400g and about 16cm-18cm (6″ or 7″) and straightaway you will see how much further it will go in feeding a large, hungry family. There may even be some leftovers for supper, if you’re very lucky!

How much does it cost to make?

This recipe will happily serve 8 to 10 people. Taking costings from Asda’s website at the time of writing this recipe, it works out to £1.91 for the whole quiche. For 8 people that means it only costs 24p per slice!

As a comparison to supermarket offerings, this recipe comes in at around 32p/100g. The average price for a mass produced quiche is anywhere from 50p/100g and upwards.

But not only will you save money making your own, you will also know exactly what has gone into it and the flavour will be so much better.

The Thrifty and Full Of Flavour Quiche Recipe

You will need a 23cm (9″) fluted flan tin

For the pastry

200g (8oz) plain flour

100g (4oz) block baking margarine (or butter – but that’s more expensive!), diced and cold

cold water to mix

pinch of salt

For the filling

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 medium onion, chopped

3 rashers of smoked back bacon, chopped (about 85g/3oz)

250ml (9 fl oz) milk – whole milk for preference but semi skimmed is fine

2 eggs

100g (4oz) cheddar cheese, grated 

Salt & pepper

Make the pastry

Start by making the pastry. Put the flour into a large bowl with the pinch of salt and gently rub in the cold baking margarine (or butter).

When the fat is all rubbed in and the mixture resembles breadcrumbs add just enough water to bring everything together. Too much water will make your pastry tough so work slowly adding only small amounts at a time.

Gently press the pastry into a ball, cover with Clingfilm and put into the fridge to rest and chill for half an hour while you make the filling.

Make the filling

Heat the oil in a medium frying pan and add the chopped onion. Fry gently over a low  heat to soften the onion but not colour it.

Remove the onion from the pan then add the chopped bacon, frying over a medium heat to get it lovely and brown and crisp.

Remove the bacon from the pan and add it to the onion and leave to cool.

In a large jug or bowl, whisk the eggs together with a fork before adding the milk, beating them together to combine. Add a little salt and pepper but not too much as the bacon and cheese already contain salt.

Turn on the oven to pre-heat to 200°c (180°c fan/400°f/gas 6)

Get the pastry from the fridge, roll out on a lightly floured surface to about 5mm thick and line the flan tin. Trim off the surplus pastry overhanging the edge of the tin then use a fork to prick the base all over. This will stop the pastry from puffing up while it’s cooking.

The pastry now needs to be blind backed. This is simply done by putting a piece of greaseproof paper on top of the pastry to cover it and weighing it down with baking beans.

Bake for 10 minutes then remove the greaseproof paper carefully and put back in the oven to bake for another 10 minutes.

When the pastry is lightly coloured, remove from the oven.

Spread the bacon and onion mixture over the bottom of the pastry case and sprinkle over the grated cheese. Pour in the egg and milk mixture and bake for 20-30 minutes.

Ovens vary so much that it’s difficult to be precise with timing. The quiche will be ready when the top is lightly golden but with still a hint of ‘wobble’ to the centre of the filling!

Here’s what we used to make our quiche

A good quality flan tin with give you great results and will last for years. This one from Tala, a well known, established brand, is really sturdy and will give you excellent, crisp pastry.

 

These are a must for blind baking pastry – no soggy bottoms! Easy to use and reusable, ceramic baking beans will help you bake a super crisp pastry case.