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Every foodie likes to eat. But not every foodie knows how to make something they want to eat. That’s fine and all, but there is such joy to be found in cooking something from scratch and it really isn’t as hard as it may seem. I’m not saying to go ahead and try to master bone marrow as a newbie on the cooking side of the kitchen, but there are some staples in every foodie’s life that can be made in the comfort of your home without feeling like a total failure. I am really excited that this week is a short work week and Easter weekend and the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Easter, is brunch. Well … candy. But then brunch. So today I’m going to walk you through preparing a classic brunch staple: Quiche Lorraine.

I used to be kind of on the fence about quiche in general. Sure, I’d eat it no complaints but it never really knocked my socks off … until recently. My dad came down to visit me a couple of months ago and we stopped by this local French bakery in downtown Saint Petersburg called Cassis. The plan was to grab coffee to go but the sweet sweet smell of butter hit us in our faces like a bat to a baseball. As the pastry chef turned around, tray of hot quiches right out of the oven in hand, I knew we’d be staying a while. Once I tasted a classic quiche made in all its buttery, creamy glory, I knew my opinion had changed forever AND that I would be insanely picky from that moment forward.

Luckily, I have a professional chef as a father and he’s as big of a fan of real French food as I am so without further ado, below is the recipe for classic Quiche Lorraine.

Classic Quiche Lorraine: Makes 2 10 inch pies

Crust:

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups butter (for a buttery but more dense crust) or shortening for a flakey crust
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 cup ice water

Filling:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3 cups half and half
• 7 fresh eggs
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. Tabasco sauce
• ½ pound of bacon
• 1 large or 2 small onions (3 cups chopped)
• 3 cups shredded Swiss or Jarlsburg cheese

You’ll want to start with the crust. Combine the flour, salt, and butter into a bowl and break the butter into pea sized nuggets (CRITICAL!) before you  add the ice water.  Mix until a rough dough forms. Take the dough and break it into two equal sized balls before sticking it in the refrigerator. Now you’re ready to move on to the filling.

Dice up the bacon and sauté it crisp. Remove it from the pan once it’s cooked but reserve the bacon fat to sauté the onions until soft and slightly caramelized. The smell should be out of this world by this point. Let the onions and bacon cool down while you make the custard. Combine heavy cream, half and half, eggs, salt, and Tabasco and whisk until smooth.

Okay, now you need to roll out the dough balls, separately, and place in pie tins, allowing the edges to overlap a bit. Use the overlapped excess to wrap around the edge of the pie dish and crimp to form your decorative outer edge. Distribute the bacon, onions, and cheese evenly between the two pie dishes and top with custard. Make sure nothing is floating to the top and that everything is coated in custard.

Bake at 350 degrees until the custard has puffed up in the middle and set. This should take about 40 minutes or so. Remove from the oven and let cool until it is firm enough to slice.

I know it can be tempting to buy a pre-made crust and save some time, but give this a shot first. Or better yet, make two, one with a homemade crust and one with a store bought so that you can notice the difference yourself! There are also dozens of ways to make this less fattening but for the purpose of this post and the upcoming holiday, I’m not interested in doing that. Plus, I want you to get slapped in the face with butter the way Dad and I did because the aroma is intoxicating.

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Rebecca McKinney

I was born a foodie. My dad is a chef, baker, and restaurant owner and my mom might as well be because she owns whatever kitchen she walks into. I grew up working in my family’s restaurant and bakery in Pawling, New York – McKinney and Doyle. I started behind the bakery counter at 12 years old after begging my parents to let me start working. At 16 I worked as a hostess. By 18 I was serving tables and training behind the bar where I then worked every other weekend throughout my college career. Even now, when I am visiting my family in New York, I help out where I’m needed. To make a long story short, the food and restaurant industry has been my life for as long as I can remember.

I wanted to create this blog for a few reasons. First and foremost, to share tips, tricks, and knowledge about the food and beverage industry in general but also to help people see a different side of the restaurant world. Every restaurant has a totally unique culture and world within it. I want to help open people’s eyes to more than how fast the service is or how easy or hard it is to secure a reservation.

So, thanks for stopping by! I welcome your ideas, input, and feedback and hope you enjoy!

Eat well & travel often,

Becky McKinney

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