French Cooking 101: Quiche Lorraine

When I first moved to France last July, one of my goals was to learn to cook some typical French dishes. I could already make a pretty good beef bourguignon, but I hadn't tried too many other typically French recipes. After I found out how easy a basic tarte could be, I decided to try a Quiche Lorraine. Turns out that it's not so difficult either. This has now become a regular in our meal rotation...

I like to serve it with a salad...it's a perfect refreshing and acidic accompaniment to the velvety quiche.

Quiche Lorraine

1 pâte brisée (I use premade, but I'm sure there's a good recipe to make it from scratch out there somewhere! Or you could probably use a premade pie crust.)
200 g / about 5 thick slices bacon, chopped
150 g / 1 cup ham, chopped
200 g / 1 1/2 cups grated Gruyere
4 eggs
40 cl / 1 2/3 cups heavy cream (A lighter cream would probably work here too...)
2 pinches of paprika
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Put the rolled out tart dough in an 11" tart pan. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.

In a sauce pan, boil the bacon pieces for one minute and then remove. In an non-stick frying pan, cook the bacon on medium heat for 5 minutes on medium heat. Remove them to a paper towel and set aside.

In a bowl, beat the eggs with the cream, the paprika, salt and pepper. Mix in the ham and bacon.

Put the egg mixture in the tart shell. Sprinkle with the cheese. Let it bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown on top.

This quiche is eaten warm or cold.