Recipe for Traditional Basic Ham Egg and Onion Flan or Quiche (2024)

Recipe for Traditional Basic Ham Egg and Onion Flan or Quiche (1)

by KathleenDuffy

Make a traditional flan or quiche with either store-bought or home-made flan case. This is a delicious, versatile and economical dish eaten hot or cold.

A flan is an open-top pie – sometimes called a quiche. It can be sweet or savoury. Flans are also extremely economical, as suitable leftovers can be incorporated into the filling.

Nowadays, of course, it is possible to buy basic flan cases at supermarkets as well as frozen shortcrust pastry ready for rolling out – and these are usually of excellent quality. They certainly save time, too.

For those who prefer to make everything from scratch, here is a recipe for shortcrust pastry suitable for the flan case, followed by instructions on how to 'blind' bake the flan cake itself.

Then there follows a simple but delicious recipe for Traditional Ham, Egg and Onion Flan.

It’s handy to remember that all cooked flan cases, even store-bought ones, should be painted inside with beaten egg and allowed to dry before putting in the filling. This ensures that the flan doesn’t have a soggy bottom when the filling is eventually added!

Shortcrust Pastry for Savoury Flan Case – White or Wholewheat

Ingredients:

  • 225 g/8 oz plain white or wholewheat flour or a mixture of the two.
  • ½ level teaspoon salt
  • 50 g/2 oz hard margarine (if using wholewheat add an extra 25 g/1 oz)
  • 50 g/2 oz lard or hard vegetable fat
  • 2 tablespoons cold water (3 for wholewheat)

Directions:

  1. Sieve or mix flour and salt in a bowl.
  2. Cut fats into small pieces.
  3. Put them into a bowl and rub between fingers until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
  4. Add the water.
  5. Using a round-ended knife stir the mixture until it begins to bind together.
  6. Using your hands, knead the mixture lightly and quickly until dough is formed.

Note: Any leftover pastry can be frozen for use later.

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Now Bake Your Flan Case 'Blind'

Baking ‘blind’ is a term used for a flan case that is cooked, or partly-cooked, before the filling is added. Here’s how to do it using the above pastry recipe or store-bought short-crust pastry.

Ingredients:

  • Your short-crust pastry, either bought or home-made (see above for recipe)
  • Flan tin or dish
  • Greaseproof paper or foil
  • Little oil or butter/marge for greasing the paper or foil
  • Dried peas or beans (after use, save in a jar for another time - they will be inedible)

Directions:

  1. Put the flan tin or dish on a baking tray.
  2. On a floured board, roll out the pastry to measure 5 cm/2 inches wider than the diameter of the flan tin or dish.
  3. Cut a circle of greaseproof paper or foil the same diameter as the pastry and lightly grease it.
  4. Now fit the pastry into the flan ring, pressing it in firmly, removing the surplus from the top edge.
  5. Prick the base of the pastry with a fork, all over.
  6. Scrunch up the greaseproof paper or foil to make it fit into the flan tin easily. Open it out and, grease side down, fit it into the flan.
  7. Add a layer of dried peas or beans - or ceramic pie weights - about 1.5 cm/½ inch deep. This ensures that the flan case stays flat when baking.
  8. Bake in a hot oven, Gas 7, 425°F, 220°C, for approximately 10 minutes.
  9. Remove the beans or peas and the greaseproof paper or foil.
  10. Return the flan case to the oven for a further 10 minutes – keep an eye on it to ensure it doesn’t get too brown.
  11. Remove from oven and allow to cool. (See image here)
  12. Paint inside of the flan case with beaten egg and allow to dry.

The flan case is now ready for filling.

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Traditional Ham, Egg and Onion Flan Recipe

This is a very basic, simple example of a traditional savoury flan or quiche. There are many variations on this theme and the pastry case can be home to a never-ending variety of meats, vegetables, fish, cheese and herbs.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

  • Home-made (see recipe above) or shop-bought flan case measuring approximately 20 cm/8 inches.
  • 25 g/1 oz ham fat or lard
  • 1 small onion, finely chopped
  • 125 g/4 oz cooked ham
  • 2 beaten eggs
  • 300 ml/½ pint milk
  • Pepper and pinch of salt
  • 50 g/2 oz grated Cheddar cheese

Directions:

  1. If not using a store-bought flan case, bake the flan case as instructed above.
  2. Fry the onion gently in the fat until soft.
  3. Mix together the onion and ham and add to the flan case.
  4. Mix together the eggs, milk and seasoning and add to the flan.
  5. Sprinkle the cheese on top.
  6. Bake near the top of a moderate oven, Gas 6, 400°F, 200°C, for 20 minutes.
  7. Reduce heat to Gas 4, 350°F, 180°C for a further 10 minutes until cooked.

This flan is so versatile that it can be served hot or cold, be a main meal or a starter, go in a lunch-box or a picnic basket. The possibilities are endless.

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Updated: 12/05/2013, KathleenDuffy

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Recipe for Traditional Basic Ham Egg and Onion Flan or Quiche (11)

Recipe for Traditional Basic Ham Egg and Onion Flan or Quiche (2024)

FAQs

What is the formula for quiche? ›

Quiche Ratio: 1 large egg to 1/2 cup of dairy

You'll need to increase the amount of eggs and milk based on the size of your quiche, so knowing the basic ratio makes it really easy to scale up or down. For a standard 9-inch quiche: Use 3 large eggs (6 ounces) 1 1/2 cups of whole milk or cream (12 ounces)

Do you need to prebake pie crust for quiche? ›

Editor: Yes, I recommend pre-baking the crusts for quiches because I think it helps keep them from getting soggy from the filling.

What is the difference between a frittata and a strata? ›

A frittata is similar to a quiche without the crust, and is often described as a thick omelette packed with ingredients like vegetables, cheese or ham. A strata is a breakfast casserole made with eggs and bread and is often described as an easy-to-make, savoury bread pudding.

What's the difference between a frittata and quiche? ›

A frittata is partially cooked in a skillet on the cooktop then finished in the oven. It also has a lower egg to dairy ratio making it closer to an open faced omelet than a pie. Quiche has a creamier, custard-like texture due to more dairy and is cooked entirely in the oven.

Is milk better than heavy cream in quiche? ›

Heavy Cream and Milk – For the best tasting quiche, use a combination of whole milk and heavy cream. (Or simply use half-and-half.) Using just heavy cream produces an overly thick filling. Whole milk is great, but a combo of heavy cream and milk is better.

Which pie crust is best for quiche? ›

Best Overall Quiche Crust: Pillsbury Pie Crust

The crusts are rolled up, so they don't take up a lot of room in your fridge or freezer, and they are super easy to work with. Just thaw overnight in the fridge, unroll gently to fill your pie dish, and either blind bake, or fill and bake, depending on your recipe.

What pastry is quiche made from? ›

Quiche crusts are made with shortcrust pastry. The name “shortcrust” refers to the baking term “short” which means pastries that are flaky and crumble when you cut into them.

What is another name for an egg quiche? ›

A frittata, also known as a crustless quiche, is a creamy, savory egg custard baked with any combination of fillings, usually vegetables and meat.

Why does strata have to sit overnight? ›

Letting the strata sit in the fridge overnight saturates the flavor and means less dirty dishes in the morning!

What is a frittata in English? ›

A frittata is an egg dish that's usually made with meat, cheese, and vegetables. You can think of a frittata as an Italian omelette. The origin of the word frittata is the Italian friggere, "fried," and in Italy it was once a common way to describe any egg dish cooked in butter or oil in a pan.

What does Lorraine mean in quiche? ›

Originally, it was a savory pie consisting of an egg and cream custard with bacon or salmon. The French word for cake is "quiche," which might have influenced the name. The dish as we know it today originated in the Lorraine region of France in the 1800s. It consists of eggs and cream or milk in a pastry crust.

What do you call quiche without crust? ›

In the most basic framework, a quiche has a pie crust and a frittata does not. A quiche is an egg custard pie and a frittata is, well, a crustless quiche.

Is crustless quiche just an omelette? ›

A crustless quiche is quite simply baked eggs and literally anything else you want to throw in. Like so many of our classic heroes, the easy egg bake of a crustless quiche goes by many names: egg bake, egg casserole, oven omelet.

How much milk per egg for scrambled eggs? ›

Adding milk or plain water to scrambled eggs is an optional step that affects the texture of your finished dish. For creamy scrambled eggs, you'll add up to 1 tablespoon of milk for every egg. For fluffy scrambled eggs, you'll add up to 1 tablespoon of water for every egg.

Is quiche made with heavy cream or light cream? ›

Heavy cream is traditional in Quiche Lorraine, however, we seem to have better luck with light cream in our quiche recipes. They bake up lighter and the filling ingredients really shine through instead of getting masked by the milk fat.

What does quiche contain? ›

Quiche (/ˈkiːʃ/ KEESH) is a French tart consisting of a pastry crust filled with savoury custard and pieces of cheese, meat, seafood or vegetables. A well-known variant is quiche lorraine, which includes lardons or bacon.

What temperature should quiche be cooked at? ›

Place quiche on baking sheet. Bake uncovered in hot oven until quiche reaches a minimum internal temperature of 165 degrees, 20-25 minutes. Carefully remove from oven.

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