Quiche Lorraine – low carb version

Time has whizzed by in this strange year and it is has been a while since I posted. I’m now thinking it’s time for a revamp – we’re no longer in lockdown so it’ll be something about the post lockdown diet.

Cooking for the big fella here today which means low carb. I couldn’t find any recipes that inspired me pastry wise so I decided to combine Grandma’s wisdom with gram flour for this one. Grandma’s recipe means imperial measures I’m afraid!

I know that traditionally one would use streaky bacon however, I find it too fatty. I also find Danish bacon has a bit of a fishy taste to it so opt for British back bacon for this. I also depart from tradition by using cheddar rather than gruyere – that’s because I rarely have a big block of the latter and always have loads of the former. My final departure from tradition is that I don’t add nutmeg – I’ve never seen the point – it just confuses me and makes it taste of custard.

I have also tried this as a sweet pastry, leaving out the spices and Parmesan and adding in the zest and juice of a lemon and a few teaspoons of stevia, which worked really well.

You don’t have to worry about over-working the dough with gram flour but even so, I think this is best made in a food processor. If you aren’t going to though, then use frozen lard and butter and grate it, to give an even texture.

Ingredients

  • 2oz cold butter
  • 2oz cold lard
  • 8oz gram flour
  • 1 large egg
  • 3oz Parmesan cheese, grated
  • 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 5 medium eggs
  • 1/2 pint double cream
  • 8 rashers, unsmoked British back bacon, chopped
  • 1 good sized red onion, finely sliced
  • 8oz grated cheddar
  • Salt and pepper

Method

  • Put the butter, lard, gram flour and spices into the bowl of a food processor and blitz until combined to fine bread crumbs
  • Add the large egg and parmesan cheese and continue to blitz until you have a smooth dough. If necessary, add a few teaspoons of iced water to get a dough consistency.
  • Shape the dough into a disc, cover in cling film and refrigerate to firm up
  • Heat the oven to 160C fan and grease a quiche dish
  • After about 20 minutes in the fridge, remove the dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface to fit the quiche dish – I sometimes find that this dough is a bit sticky and difficult to handle so roll it out between two sheets of non-stick baking paper
  • Line the quiche dish with the rolled dough, then line that with baking paper and fill with baking beans – I use a preformed cake tin paper liner, which also makes it very easy to remove the beans later
  • Blind bake for 25 minutes
  • Remove the beans and return the pastry crust to the oven for a further 10 minutes
  • Remove the pastry crust from the oven and scatter with 2oz of the grated cheddar to cover the base, return to the oven and cook until the cheese has melted, forming a barrier against the liquid filling
  • Whilst the pastry is blind baking, lightly fry the bacon in its own fat for a few minutes until it is just beginning to crisp and brown and then add the onion
  • Reduce the heat and continue to fry for another couple of minutes so that the onion starts to soften. Remove from the heat
  • In a large jug, whisk together the eggs and cream and season lightly
  • Whisk through the remaining cheddar and then stir in the bacon and onion
  • Once the cheddar has melted over the pastry base, pour in the rest of the filling, forking through to distribute the bacon and onion evenly
  • Reduce the heat to 150C fan and bake the quiche for an hour, when the filling should have set to a firm wobble

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