Once upon a time there was a flourishing medieval dukedom deep in the heart of Europe called Lothringen.

The people there hit upon a genius idea…. adapt the highly successful English custom of eating eggs and bacon and combine it into a wonderful and convenient tart (originally with a bread, rather than a pastry, base), which tastes as good cold as it does hot, and so be easily transported into the fields and for journeys. Initially, they called the tart a ‘Kuchen’ as they spoke German in that region (Kuchen means ‘cake’), but this slowly morphed into ‘Kische’.

Although Lothringen Kische was not a grand dish it became the favourite of the young duke, Charles III.

When Charles was nine the French invaded Lothringen. They took him away to the French court to be schooled in the ways of the French, and later he married a French princess. Lothringen was renamed ‘Lorraine’ by the French; and the tart was also Frenchified, becoming what we all know and love today as Quiche Lorraine and incorporating cheese. If onions are added, the tart becomes a Quiche Alsacienne.

The Saucy Dressings-Tried and Supplied team is lucky to have a talented French intern, Lucie Jannon, to support us – not just professionally, but also gastronomically! She makes a mean Quiche Lorraine, much enjoyed by us on many an occasion, and has generously agreed to share the recipe.

Lucie tells us,

“this is my mother’s recipe, which she got from my grandmother, who lives in the north of France. There are different versions because some people do it without the cheese on top (sad), or with  short-crust pastry (pâte brisée) instead of puff pastry (pâte feuilletée). It can be eaten cold so it is a typical dish for picnics or school events when we were kids and our parents had to cook.

Some people also make it with cured ham instead of smoked lardons but it is less tasty I think.

The secret is nutmeg I would say.

It is a really easy dish to do because it doesn’t require any skills and is really quick to make.”

For a recipe for universal quiche, follow this link.

To make your own short-crust pastry, follow this link. Don’t even think of trying to make your own puff pastry; bought, as long as it’s ‘all-butter’ is fine.

Lucie’s Quiche Lorraine

Serves four to six people with a green salad

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Serves – 4

Ingredients

• 320g/12 oz full butter puff pastry (pâte feuilleté) – this will probably be a sheet which you can reshape into a circular shape if you want
• 3 eggs
• 200 ml/1 cup crème fraîche entire
• 200g/7 oz smoked diced pancetta (lardons fumés)
• 90g/¾ cup grated Emmental (or Gruyère râpé)
• A pinch of nutmeg
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C/T6
2. Spread the dough on a pie pan and put it in the oven for a few minutes, just to dry it out a little. Remove it when bubbles start to form
3. Prepare the quiche mixture by beating the eggs and the crème fraiche in a bowl with a fork, just like you would do for an omelette. Then add salt and pepper to your liking, and a pinch of nutmeg.
4. Spread the pancetta on the dried out pastry in the pie pan; add the egg and crème mix on top of it; and finish by spreading enough cheese on the top to cover the batter.
5. Cook in the oven for 30min. It shouldn’t be eaten straight out of the oven, the quiche Lorraine’s texture is usually better lukewarm or cold.

This post is dedicated to Lucie Jannon.