Quiche Lorraine

GinnyP's Note:

I LOVE this quiche. It's crustless. The texture is fabulous. You can vary this in many ways by changing the filling ingredients. This one is bacon and Gruyere. I sometimes add green onion and 1/4 c dijon mustard to this recipe. Or I'll go totally different and just add lots of diced and sauteed veggies and omit the bacon and cheese. I like to serve it with a small salad and a cluster of seedless grapes or some melon.

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 6-8

Yield: 1.0 9inch Q ...

• 8 ounces uncooked bacon, chopped
• 6 ounces gruyere cheese or 6 ounces other swiss cheese, grated
• 3 eggs
• 12 ounces heavy cream or 12 ounces creme fraiche (For this, I'm partial to the creme fraiche. You can make your own. See my recipe for Creme Fraiche.)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

1. Cook chopped bacon in a heavy skillet with a little butter or olive oil until browned.
2. Remove the bacon from the skillet to a glass or paper plate lined with a couple paper towels.
3. Butter a 9" glass pie dish.
4. Spread bacon and then the grated Gruyere in the pie plate.
5. Whisk together the eggs, creme fraiche, salt, and pepper.
6. Pour over the bacon and cheese, using a fork to gently distribute the bacon and cheese evenly.
7. Bake the quiche in a water bath in a 350F oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.
8. Serve hot or at room temperature.
9. Note: A water bath is simply placing the dish to be cooked in a larger dish, then filling the larger dish with water to about 1" from the top of the smaller dish, then bake.
10. I get the water ready to pour, place the uncooked quiche in the larger dish and then into the oven, and THEN pour the water in.
11. Be very careful pulling this out of the oven.
12. Move slowly so the hot water doesn't slosh about.
13. Don't pull your oven rack out with the dish on it unless your rack moves very smoothly or the water will slosh.

Reviews

[PanNan]

I make almost the identical quiche. I use half and half to make it a little lighter and also add 1/8 tsp nutmeg for our taste. We like the cheeziness (is that a word?) of the 1 1/2 cups grated Swiss cheese (about 6 oz), especially with the lighter cream. I make this same recipe either with or without the pastry crust.

[cset]

Absolutley delicious. I used your cream fraiche recipe also but should have doubled it for this recipe as you needed 12 oz. My husband gave it a thumbs up and went back for seconds. I will definitely make it again.

[ratherbeswimmin']

Excellent quiche. I made it to serve at a ladies brunch. I used my own recipe for creme fraiche and think that was a key ingredient to the rich taste and fluffy texture. I also used a pie crust, because I think it looks so elegant. It had a wonderful cheesy and bacon flavor and was a big hit at the brunch. Thanks GinnyP.