French Onion Quiche (Caramelised Onion Quiche)

Quiche is a summer thing, right? Wrong. Yes I’ll never say so to a nice slice of Quiche Lorraine, my end of summer Sweet Potato, Red Onion, Spinach & Feta Quiche, Roasted Summer Vegetable & Feta Quiche, or even the Smoked Salmon & Green Pea Quiche made with a cheats puff pastry crust in One Pan Pescatarian (ad) but at this time of the year I want a slice of quiche inspired by one of my favourite, cook it low and slow cold weather soup recipes (that you’ll also find in One Pan, incidentally): French Onion Quiche.

Inside a simple, flaky unsalted butter and lard shortcrust pastry case slow cooked, caramalised onions are combined with a rich egg custard enriched with the very best French creme fraiche, a good amount of salt and pepper and a generous pinch of ground nutmeg (and a topping of grated gruyere to imitate the classic croutons if you’re interested – I’ve left it off as I can’t eat it, but my Mum swears by it for finishing a classic French quiche) before being baked until tender. It’s a caramelised onion quiche I’ve made so many times for lunch guests!

Seriously, you’ll want to be adding this simple eggy tart to your meat free dinner rotation with a green salad and some air fryer French Fries this autumn served warm, and then enjoy the cold slithers for lunch the next day. This quiche even got the J stamp of approval. Dishes without meat in rarely get the J stamp of approval!

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French Onion Quiche

• Author: Rachel Phipps
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
• Yield: Serves 4-6 1x
• Category: Lunch
• Cuisine: French
• Diet: Vegetarian

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Description

This easy French Onion Quiche makes a rich, creamy quiche recipe filled with slow cooked caramelised onions.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

For the Shortcrust Pastry

• 200g (7 oz) plain (all purpose) flour
• 60g (2 oz) unsalted butter
• 40g (1 1/2 oz) lard (see note)
• sea salt

For the French Onion Quiche

• 6 small white onions (approx. 600g / 1 lb 5 oz)
• 45g (1 1/2 oz) unsalted butter
• sea salt
• 100g (3 1/2 oz) full fat creme fraiche
• 2 large egg yolks
• 100ml (3 1/2 fl oz) semi-skimmed milk
• 2 large eggs
• generous pinch ground nutmeg
• freshly ground black pepper
• gruyere cheese (optional)

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Instructions

1. Blitz together the flour, unsalted butter (cubed), lard (again, cubed) with a pinch of salt in a food processor until you’ve formed crumbs. Gradually blitz in up to 2 tbsp of ice water until the dough starts to form together and stick slightly.
2. Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and using a light touch bring together into a smooth ball. If you’ve added a bit too much water making it a bit sticky don’t worry, just add a little more flour.
3. Generously grease a relatively deep (a regular, not one of the skinny ones) loose bottomed, fluted tart tin of approximately 20 cm with an additional bit of butter or lard.
4. Flour the work surface and roll out the pastry so that it is just bigger than the tin. Carefully slide the rolling pin under the pastry and use it to lift it over the tin without cracking. Gently let the edges down into the pin, using your fingers to press it into the edges.
5. Using a sharp knife on an angle, slice away the excess pastry leaving just a slight lip. Use your fingers to smarten this up, before chilling the pastry case while you make the filling.
6. Peel the onions and slice them into thin half moons. Heat the butter in a medium non-stick frying over a medium low heat pan and add the onions with a generous pinch of sea salt. Cook, stirring occasionally for 30 minutes.
7. Turn the heat up to medium and cook the onion for a further 15 minutes, taking them from soft and melting to golden and just starting to crisp in places.
8. Meanwhile, whisk the creme fraiche and egg yolks together until smooth before adding the milk and the other two eggs. Season generously with a pinch of nutmeg, salt and pepper. Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees (375 farenheit).
9. Spread 3/4 of the onions across the bottom of the pastry case and pour over the egg mixture. Sprinkle over the remaining onions and bake, sitting on a baking tray for 35-40 minutes until the egg mixture is set, and has turned puffy and golden.
10. Release from the pastry case as soon as it is cool enough to touch before slicing.

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Notes

If you can’t get your hands on any lard, simply just use more unsalted butter.

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