Not a tart - A Jamie inspired cheese and bacon quiche

It should be said here and now that I don't know the difference between quiche and a tart, and I don't care massively, though you could throw in the word 'flan' and be even more befuddled should you really be interested. What I do know however is that I really like quiche (and tarts and flans for that matter) and actually so do Lola and Finn and if you can get a pastry that behaves (this one does) then this is a really easy way of creating something which is at once both satisfying and light, summery when paired with some salad and then transformed into something stodgy and Autumnal if you serve it warm with baked beans, which is Lola and Finn's chosen way of eating quiche. You may think that is so, so wrong, but Lola and Finn don't want to be right.

I decided on whipping up a quiche after a visit to the supermarket in the evening; (best time to go if you're after a bargain) and spying a cooked bacon joint being heavily reduced in price to literally a few coppers. Everything must go! I snaffled it up a nanosecond after the assistant had shot it with the reduced price gun and somehow got it home without breaking into it and tearing a strip of sticky fat and salty meat off the bone. I just love bacon!

As I had eggs to use, some wonderfully golden yolked affairs that had been brought back from France, I decided that a quiche was the way to go. preferably with the bite of some mature cheese and a delightfully short pastry which crumbled pleasingly as you pressed the tines of your fork into it. Deep joy.

I have no loyalty when it comes to quiche recipes, and indeed have been known to haphazardly hurl together alsorts of random and leftover ingredients into a pastry case, however, here is a Jamie Oliver inspired affair and it is very good indeed.

My tweaks to the original recipe. My bacon was cooked, therefore I did not need to go through the saute process with the onion. Also, I used spring onion because I really couldn't be doing with faffing with a pan for cooking a few bits of a cooking onion.

The original recipe calls for 4 large eggs; I used 5 medium eggs and it seemed to work just fine.

My fluted dish is approximately 9 1/2 inches across. The pastry covered this with a little left over. The quantity of filling came about two thirds of the way up the pastry case. I hate having quiche mixture leftover.

So, whether your accompaniment of choice is a salad or a tin of beans, this quiche is pretty nice.

Cheese and Bacon Quiche, adapted from Jamie Oliver's recipe (from his website - jamieoliver.com)

Ingredients:

Pastry:
220g plain flour
120g cold butter
1/2 tsp salt
about 3 tbsp of ice cold water

Filling:

4 large eggs (I used 5 medium eggs)

150ml double cream

100g mature cheddar cheese, finely grated

200g bacon, cut into small strips (Note: my bacon was cooked. I also used a little more than 200g because I wanted a firmer quiche. Lola and Finn prefer it that way)

1 small onion, chopped (I used 4 spring onions, white and green parts chopped)

1 tbsp chopped parsley

Salt and pepper to season

Method:

Pastry:

Place the flour and the salt in a large bowl. Cut the butter into small cubes then add to the flour. Rub the flour and butter between your fingers till the mixture resembles large breadcrumbs. Or, if you're me, put it in a food processor and process the ingredients and then carefully add a trickle of water through the feed tube and process until the pastry comes together in a bowl. Add the water, continue mixing, then knead gently into a ball. Place in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.

Grease a quiche/flan dish (approx 24cm -  mine was 9 1/2inches - see above) and preheat oven to 180C.

Roll out the pastry and lay in the quiche dish . Trim the edges. The pastry can be patched into the dish if needs be. It is quite forgiving.

Cover the pastry base with some greaseproof paper and then fill with dried beans, peas, rice or baking beans (couldn't find mine!)

.

Pre-bake the pastry case for about 12-15 minutes, then remove from the oven (remove the paper and beans).

Prepare the filling by frying your bacon and onion if it is raw. I used cooked bacon and spring onions and did not need this step.

Place the fried bacon and onion into the quiche crust and spread out evenly.

Whisk together the eggs, cream, cheese and chopped parsley. Season with a little salt and pepper. though be aware of the potential saltiness of your bacon.

Pour into the quiche dish then place in the oven and bake for approx 30-40 minutes.

Allow to cool before serving. A raging hot quiche is dangerous and verging on impossible to eat and tastes of nothing. Serve warm or at room temperature.