Dessie O'Mara's

Mirabelle’s Quiche Lorraine with Upton’s West Cork Eggs

Mirabelle’s Quiche Lorraine with Upton’s West Cork Eggs

Quiche Lorraine

The mother of all quiche recipes is the Quiche Lorraine, a light custard with lots of bacon in a buttery crust. This recipe is from the irrepressible Dessie O’Mara Chef / Patron at Mirabelle’s in the Market Square in Dunmanway West Cork. Coming out of Lockdown with a simplified menu emphasising Dessie’s skills as an artisan baker his slice of quiche in a salad bowl with two house salads at €5.50 provides a satisfying and healthy meal. Like all artisan bakers fresh eggs are important for cakes and quiches and Dessie appreciates the West Cork freshness of Upton’s Eggs noting they often have double yolks, a sure sign of a healthy, well fed flock.

Dessie O’Mara showing off his wares at Mirabelle’s

 Culinary trends took an odd turn in the 70s when quiche gained the reputation of being a Ladies-who-lunch type of dish. Must have been because they took the bacon out and started putting everything else in (asparagus, goat cheese, mushrooms, heck, they even took out the crust).

In this version of Quiche Lorraine we’ve included some chopped chives to give freshness. If you’ve never made a quiche before, don’t worry, it couldn’t be easier. Especially if you’re working with a prepared frozen crust. If not, it’s still easy, it just takes more time and planning.

Quiche may sound fancy, but don’t be intimidated. This savoury pie is simple to throw together, and you can use a prepared frozen pie crust to take some of the pressure off.

The filling for a traditional quiche is milk or cream (or both), cheese, and Upton’s eggs. Quiche can be filled with vegetables, chopped cooked meat, and various fresh herbs. You pre-bake the crust, arrange the cheese plus any meat, vegetables, and herbs on top of the crust, and then fill with the beaten milk, cream, and eggs. It’s that simple.

Print Recipe
Prep Time: 20 mins
Quiche Lorraine
Cook Time: 40 mins
Description:
Quiche may sound fancy, but don’t be intimidated. This savoury pie is simple to throw together, and you can use a prepared frozen pie crust to take some of the pressure off.
Ingredients:
• shortcrust
pastry - either buy this readymade to save time or make it fresh.
Dessie makes his fresh as you would expect.
• 1/2
pound of
bacon (you can use more or less to your taste)
• 1
cup of
milk
• 1/2
cup of
double cream
• 3
Upton’s eggs
• 1/2
teaspoon of
sea salt
• freshly
ground black pepper to taste (we used about 1/2 teaspoon)
• 1/8
teaspoon of
ground nutmeg
• 1
cup of
Gruyere or Carbery Cheddar (grated)
• 1
heaped tablespoon of
chopped chives
Cooking Method:
Pre-bake the frozen crust:

Pre-baking is also called “blind” baking. If you're using a store-bought frozen crust, follow the directions on the package for pre-baking. If you are pre-baking a homemade crust, preheat oven to 350°F. Line the frozen crust with heavy duty aluminum foil. Allow for a couple inches to extend beyond the sides of the tart or pie pan.

Fill tart pan with pie weights such as dry beans, sugar, or rice. If you are using a pan with a removable bottom, place the pan on a rimmed baking sheet in the oven to catch any spillage. Bake for 40 minutes. Then remove from oven, remove the pie weights (the easiest way to do this is to lift up the foil by the edges) and the foil, and set aside.

Cook the bacon:

Set a large frying pan over medium heat. Arrange strips of bacon in a single layer on the bottom of the pan (you may need to work in batches or do two pans at once).Slowly cook the bacon, turning the strips over occasionally until they are nicely browned and much of the fat has rendered out. Lay the cooked strips of bacon on a paper towel to absorb the excess fat. Pour fat out of the pan into a jar (not down the drain, unless you want to clog the pipes) for future use, or wait until it solidifies and discard in the trash. Chop the cooked bacon crosswise into 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch pieces.

Make the filling:

Now that the bacon is cooked preheat the oven to 170 °c. (350°F.) Whisk the eggs in a large bowl. Add the nutmeg, salt, black pepper and chives and whisk a little more. Add the milk and cream and whisk vigorously to incorporate and introduce a little air into the mix – this keeps the texture of the quiche light and fluffy.

Put filling in pre-baked crust:

Arrange the bacon and cheese in the bottom of the pie crust. Whisk the egg-milk mixture hard again for a few seconds, then pour it gently into the pie crust. You want the bacon and cheese to be suspended in the mix, so you might need to gently stir it around just a little. You also want the chives, which will float, to be evenly arranged on top, so move them around with a spoon until you like where they are.

Bake:

Put the quiche into the preheated oven and bake for 30-40 minutes. (If using pan with removable bottom, be sure to place a rimmed baking sheet underneath.) Check for doneness after 30 minutes by gently jiggling the quiche. It should still have just a little wiggle. (It will finish setting while it cools.) Cool on a wire rack.

You can eat quiche hot, at room temperature, cool (a quiche will keep for several days in the fridge), or reheated gently in a 100°C (200°F) oven.