French Cooking with Lyndi // Episode 1 : Quiche aux poireaux (leek quiche)

This evening I decided to make a favorite go-to meal I would enjoy baked fresh from a bakery while living in France. My fav ? Quiche aux poireaux (leek quiche) with a fresh salade verte.

I actually discovered leeks by accident. I walked into a bakery, and before I knew what poireaux meant (many years ago😉) I decided to try it. That became my go-to quiche whenever I would grab lunch at a bakery. One day I looked up what poireaux meant, and was so surprised I was eating leeks ! I feel like many Americans tend to shy away from this vegetable, but don't be scared; it's actually super tasty ! 

I used the French recipe from here, but below is the translation:

For the crust:
     -    250 g of flour (a little more than 1 cup)
     -    140 g of softened butter
     -    2 T of water

Mix the flour and butter to form a crumbly dough just enough that the butter's incorporated. Then add in your water and knead to form a ball. You can let this chill in your fridge for 30 min while you start your next steps, or if your dough isn't sticky go ahead and press it into a quiche dish/pie pan; then place it in the fridge.

For the filling: 

     -    3 leeks (I used 1 jumbo leek and had more than enough)

     -    400 g lardon (thicker slab cut of bacon chopped into cubes / I cubed up a couple of slices)

     -    3 eggs

     -    100 g Gruyère cheese (roughly)

     -    25 cl of crème fraîche (about an 8 oz container)

     -    Salt and pepper (of course!)

     -    A dash of ground nutmeg

Smells soooo good...yummy

You want to chop up your leek(s) and melt a pat of butter in a skillet. Then add in your leeks to cook down. Set aside. Cook up your lardon/bacon. After cooked, I set them on a paper towel for a bit to get rid of some of the grease. Combine with your cooked leeks.

From left to right: the egg mixture, combined leeks and lardon, shredded gruyère

For the egg mixture--whisk together your crème fraîche and eggs along with nutmeg, salt, & pepper. 

* Sprinkle sprinkle ! *
I didn't have a real quiche dish, but this oval dish did the trick!

Retrieve your chilled crust and spoon in your leeks/bacon mixture. Shred the gruyère and generously place over top of your leeks to form a nice layer. Then pour your egg mixture on top of that, and it will soak into all the leeks. Lastly, place your quiche into the oven set for 210°C (410°F) for 25-35 minutes until golden brown...yummmm. 

I whipped up a beautiful, simple salad by adding some walnuts and tomatoes on top of a bed of greens.

The meal was a success...I got to relive some French bakery memories, brush up on my baking skills, AND give my family a warm, quality meal:) 

Hope this recipe serves you well, and you can always add different vegetables or cheeses with your quiche (I also love chèvre/goat cheese) ! That's what makes it such a great and versatile recipe:) It's also tasty reheated so don't worry if you have leftovers..but you probably won't! ;)

Until next time...

bisous,

Lyndi

PS--I found this video (in French) to be super helpful as well ! He's making a curry leek quiche, but his technique is the same for our recipe. The website didn't add much detail so the visual was super helpful (though I did add more detail in my above English recipe hehe).

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