Bacon and Leek Quiche

An exceptional dish that will impress everyone! Can be enjoyed for brunch, lunch or dinner…

• Cut the butter into small pieces and add them to a mixer along with the flour and salt.
• Beat with the paddle attachment until the mixture looks like wet sand.
• Add the eggs, egg yolk and then slowly add the water you almost create a dough.
• Remove from mixer and transfer to a working surface dusted with flour.
• Knead into the shape of a ball and wrap in plastic wrap.
•  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes so that the dough can rest. This will make it easier to work with when you are rolling it out.
• While the dough is resting, prepare the filling.
• Cut the bacon into 1 cm strips.
• Place them in a cold pan and begin heating them up over medium heat, until they are nice and crunchy. This should take about 8-10 minutes.
• When ready, remove from pan with a slotted spoon and discard all of the fat apart from 1 tablespoon which you can leave in the pan.
• Add the leek to the pan and season with salt, pepper, thyme and the rest of the herbs.
• Sauté over medium to high heat for 5-7 minutes, until the leek has softened but don’t let it turn golden.
• When ready, transfer to a bowl and add the bacon and cheese. Set aside.
• When the dough has rested, remove plastic wrap and roll out on a working surface that has been dusted with flour.
• It should be rolled out to a size that is larger than your tart pan.
• Preheat the oven to 170* C (338* F) Fan.
• Grease the tart pan with butter and dust with flour.
• Carefully transfer dough to tart pan and fit it in nicely, making sure you don’t pull on the dough and tear it.
• Fold the top edges of the dough over the rim of the tart pan so that it doesn’t “shrivel” up while baking.
• Pierce the dough on the bottom of the tart pan with a fork so that it doesn’t puff up while baking.
• Cover with 2 sheets of plastic wrap in a crisscross manner, as is usually done when baking tarts.
• Fill with pie weights (or any kind of beans you have on hand to add enough weight). Cover weights with plastic wrap also.
• Bake for 30 minutes.
• When ready, remove from oven and remove the wrap and weights.
• Brush the tart crust with an egg yolk that has been diluted with a little water and bake for another 15 minutes, until golden.
• When ready, remove from oven. You should brush the tart crust with some leftover egg white and baking it again for 1 minute, before adding the filling. This creates an impenetrable layer that doesn’t allow the filling to soak into the tart crust and make it soggy.
• Turn up oven temperature to 180* C (350* C) Fan to preheat.
• To prepare the second part of the filling, whisk the heavy cream, eggs and egg yolks in a bowl. Add salt and pepper sparingly since the bacon and cheese already have salt and you don’t want the tart to turn out too salty.
• Add the bacon-cheese mixture to the tart crust and then add the heavy cream mixture.  You may or may not be able to add all of the heavy cream mixture, depending on the size of your tart pan but it’s alright.
• Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the quiche is nice and golden.