Bacon and Tomato Quiche

Avoid any chance of soggy bottoms and impress friends and family with a slice or two of this tasty dish...

This recipe is from Wilde Orchard - Debs is the face behind the blog and we love that when she first posted this recipe, these were here words - "Bacon Tomato Quiche in homemade short crust pastry. Seriously, I did just say that."  She was pretty shocked that she'd just made her own pastry, why not try your hand at homemade pastry too.

Bacon and Tomato Quiche

Ingredients

For the pastry

• 250g plain/ all purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 125g butter cubed, cold
• 1 egg
• 35g/ml very cold water
• For the Quiche
• 3 eggs
• 80 ml cream
• 60 ml milk
• 60g grated Gruyere
• 30g grated Cheddar
• 6 rashers bacon, cut into lardons
• 2 banana shallots, finely sliced
• 5 cherry tomatoes, halved and roasted
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves

Method

1. Pre heat oven to 180c.
2. Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl or onto a clean, dry work surface.
3. With your finger tips rub the butter into the flour until it is all pea sized.
4. Make a well in the centre of the flour and crack the egg in.
5. Bring the flour into the centre and mix it in with the egg. Add the water slowly and bring together until a soft, pliable dough forms. Shape the pastry into a circle if you will be lining a round tin, or into a rectangle if you will be lining a square tin. Wrap in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
6. Once the pastry is well rested remove it from the fridge and place it on a clean work surface, lightly dusted with flour. Using a rolling pin, roll in a circle or square depending on the shape of your tin. Once the tin is lined trim the edges with a small sharp knife. Use small, quick strokes to do this. If you try and use long strokes, your knife will drag along the pastry and you will not have a nice clean edge.
7. Place a piece of grease proof paper that is slightly larger than your tin onto the pastry case. Fill the greaseproof with baking beans, regular beans or rice. Bake this in the oven for 15 minutes to give the pastry a head start.
8. Halve the cherry tomatoes, drizzle with some olive oil and sea salt and place in the oven with the pastry for 6 minutes. Remove and leave to cool.
9. To make the quiche filling, heat a skillet over a medium heat with a tablespoon of oil. Brown the bacon lardons until they are crispy and golden. Remove the bacon and sweat the finely sliced shallots in the bacon fat. When they are soft and lightly golden, remove them from the pan. Place the eggs, cream and milk into a medium bowl and whisk together. Season with salt and pepper. Add in the grated cheeses and cooked bacon and shallots. Remove the pastry from the oven and remove the greaseproof filled with the baking beans. Pour your prepared quiche filling into the pastry case. Place the roasted tomato halves in the quiche mix and sprinkle with the thyme leaves and some cracked black pepper.
10. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes. Or until cooked and the top is golden and set.

This recipe first appeared on Wilde Orchard