Jamie Oliver's Cheese and Bacon Quiche

One of the things that excites me, is the sight of fresh, farm eggs. Smooth, ellipsoidal mounds and their creamy coloured shells! Today, we were given a tray of these beautiful eggs, and they were HUGE! So thank you, Mags & Benny and your gorgeous boys!



Just look at the size of these beauties.



The one on the left, rested on the rest of the giant eggs, is a 59g egg (From a 700g carton of extra large eggs). We cracked a few open, some are triple yolked and some are double. It makes me rub my hands with glee... just wondering what I shall make. The possibilities are endless.

But anyways, this is what I made earlier this morning, but not with those huge eggs.

Cheese and Bacon Quiche.



I came across this recipe from Jamie Oliver's website.

It's a classic. Very few ingredients and relatively simple to put together.

Recipe from jamieoliver.com

Ingredients
Pastry:
220g plain flour
120g cold butter
1/2 tsp salt
about 3 tbsp of ice cold water

Filling:
4 large eggs
150ml double cream
100g mature cheddar cheese, finely grated
200g bacon, cut into small strips
1 small onion, chopped
Salt and pepper to season

Method

Pastry:

1. Place the flour and the salt in a large bowl. Cut the butter into small cubes then add to the flour.
2. Rub the flour and butter between your fingers till the mixture resembles large breadcrumbs. Add the water, continue mixing, then knead gently into a ball. Place in the fridge for about 15 mins.
3. In the meantime, grease a quiche/flan dish (approx 24cm) and preheat oven to 180C.
4. Roll out the pastry and lay in the quiche dish . Trim the edges.
5. Cover the pastry base with some greaseproof paper and then fill with dried beans or peas.
6. Pre-bake the pastry case for about 12-15mins, then remove from the oven (remove the paper and beans).

7. Prepare the filling:
Fry the bacon strips in a dash of olive oil, till lightly browned. Remove from the pan.
8. Fry the chopped onion gently, till soft.
9. Place the fried bacon and onion into the quiche crust and spread out evenly.
10. Whisk together the eggs,cream and cheese. Season with a little salt and pepper.
11. Pour into the quiche dish then place in the oven and bake for approx 30-40 mins.

My variation:

For the pastry, I simply throw the dry ingredients and the cold cubed butter into my KitchenAid food processor, and with a dough blade, I gave it a few pulses. Then with the motor running, I drizzled in the cold water until the dough comes together into a ball. I threw it into the fridge, and half an hour later, it's ready to be rolled out.

I was feeling generous with the filling, and pretty much used 1 and a half quantity of all the ingredients. It came out just right for the size of my quiche dish.

The end result: a nice little Sunday brunch for the family.

Now, more egg-baking to come from Gracey's kitchen so watch this space.

*Rubs hands with glee...*