Brie quiche with cranberries recipe

This Brie quiche with cranberries is a great dish to serve up at a summer party. 

It makes fabulous, crowd-pleasing buffet food and if you are serving it as part of a larger spread, you can cut it into smaller portions (up to 12). Serve with salads and chunks of crusty baguette and you'll have enough to feed the whole street. The combination of salty bacon, creamy Brie and tart cranberries is makes a really flavourful quiche. Plus it's always good to remember that cranberries aren't just for Christmas - and this is a great way to use some up if you have a jar still lurking in your cupboards. 

Ingredients

• 200g plain flour
• 100g chilled butter, cubed
• 1 egg

For the filling:

• 30g butter
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 250g streaky bacon, chopped
• 5 eggs, lightly beaten
• 400ml creme fraiche
• 125g Brie, sliced
• 3 tbsp cranberry sauce
• 60g Cheddar, grated

Method

1. To make the pastry, put the flour, a pinch of salt and the butter into a food processor. Whizz until the mixture resembles crumbs, then add the egg and 1tbsp cold water. Blend until mixture just comes together. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead lightly until smooth. Wrap and chill for 30 mins.
2. Roll out the pastry and use to line a greased, 20cm loose-based tart tin, pressing well into the edges. Chill for 20 mins.
3. Heat the oven to 200°C with a baking sheet in it. Trim edges off the pastry case. Line with baking paper and beans and bake blind directly on baking sheet for 10 mins. Remove the paper and beans and cook for 10 more mins.
4. Heat the butter, then add the onions and fry gently for 5 mins to soften.
5. Put the bacon in another pan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. (This removes excess fat.) Drain, pat dry and add to the onion. Cook for a few mins to crisp up.
6. Reduce the oven temperature to 190°C. Crack the eggs into a jug and add the crème fraîche. Season and mix together.
7. Spoon the onion and bacon into the pastry case. Arrange slices of Brie over them, with teaspoonfuls of cranberry sauce. Scatter with grated cheese. Pour the egg mixture over the filling. Bake for 30 mins until golden and firm. It’s best eaten warm.

Top tip for making this Brie quiche with cranberries

We’ve added streaky bacon to our Brie quiche, but if you are serving to vegetarians you can simply leave it - or make one with and one without.

Should I serve quiche hot or cold?

Quiche should always be served warm, so that filling is light and creamy, and the pastry is soft and crumbly. You can eat it the following day as leftovers, but even then it will benefit from a quick sit in a warm oven to loosen it. Cold quiche can be rather heavy and disappointing - in fact a lot of people think they don't like quiche, precisely because it's often presented cold. Try it warm and you might change your mind.

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