Quiche Lorraine

I learned how to make this delicious recipe while visiting my French relatives in the French Alps earlier this year. (Recipe from the kitchen of Raymonde Bugeaud). Perhaps it should be named 'Quiche Raymonde'. Bon appetit!

• Ready In: 1 hr 10 mins
• Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 1 3⁄4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2⁄3 cup margarine (refrigerated)
• 13  eggs
• 1  cup sour cream
•  bacon, thick sliced smoked, cooked, drained & diced
• 1  pinch salt
• 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper (to taste)
•  nutmeg, grated

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit.
2. Grease a 10-inch fluted loose-bottomed tart or quiche pan.
3. CRUST: Sift the 1 3/4 cups flour and salt into a large bowl; add margarine and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add 1 egg yolk and a little cold water (about 2-3 Tablespoons) and mix with a flexible bladed knife until the dough just starts to come together. Bring the dough together with your hands and shape into a ball. You can also make the dough in a food processor using the pulse button. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour. Roll out the pastry into a circle on a lightly floured surface and use to line a tart pan. Trim the edge and pinch around the pastry edge to make an even border raised slightly above the rim of the pan. Slide onto a baking sheet and put in the refrigerator for ten minutes.
4. Place thick sliced smoked bacon (diced) over pastry dough. Bake crust in oven at 400 degrees F for 10 - 15 minutes. Remove.
5. BEAT: 8 egg yolks, pepper, nutmeg and sour cream.
6. WHIP: 4 egg whites and salt to stiff (not dry) peaks.
7. Fold egg whites into the yolk mixture and pour over the pie crust and bacon shell.
8. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Bake for 30 - 40 minutes or until knive comes clean when inserted in center. Allow to rest in pan for 5 minutes before serving.