Quiche Lorraine (from The Guardian, Cloake 2011 and The Great British Bake Off: How to turn everyday bakes into showstoppers, Collister 2012)

Men, answer me this: what have you got against quiche? Seriously, what is your problem? It’s pastry and egg and sometimes, like in the case of Quiche Lorraine, meat. Would it help if we called it Bacon and Egg Pie?

When I announced I was making Quiche Lorraine, my boyfriend’s first words were “I don’t like quiche”. I was undeterred, because I know this is just the kind of male posturing also reserved for things like green salad, or a Wispa bar. And also because I can’t resist cutting into the wobbly filling of a still-warm quiche and releasing the velvety oozing eggy custard onto the plate. It reminds me of delicious things like pouring thick custard over a sticky toffee pudding, or glooping fudge mixture into a pan to set… or, er, lava flowing from an erupting volcano.

I treated myself to a silicone ‘tin’ for this recipe because a) it allows for easy de-tinning, b) it can be used for all sorts of flans, tarts and pies, and c) because it is red. I like red.

I drew on all of my tough sat-on-my-ass-watching-Great British Bake Off experience to get the rough puff pastry right. God bless Mary Berry, she is a national treasure. She deserves a knighthood for her services to sponge, or at least for everyone to bow and curtsey in her presence like she was the Queen. (And how many people have a whole website dedicated to pictures of them eating things?)

I also got a great general tip from Felicity Cloake about baking these eggy custard dishes: if adding further ingredients, remove their water content by any means necessary. That sounds like a command handed down from the CIA or MI6. “The name’s Anglaise. Petite Gourmande Anglaise. Leek: sautée, or this is the end of the line.” BANG!

The resulting quiche was described by the Good Food Channel as “Wow! That’s a beast! Looks great!”. See for yourself.

I loved it. Underneath the beastiness, it was packed with flavour and the pastry was super light and buttery. In short, it was a proper Bacon and Egg Pie. Tucking into it, my boyfriend said “I don’t like quiche. But I love this one”.