I've tried my hand at several different quiche recipes, and as you know, I like to experiment. Each time I would slightly adjust the ingredients, so that each time the final product would taste slightly different. I had yet to make the "perfect" quiche. I had saved this Quiche Lorraine recipe from Southern Living a few years ago, but never got around to trying it out until now. This recipe uses green onions instead of regular onions, which give the quiche a milder but still delicious onion flavor. Even though I told myself I would follow the recipe exactly, I couldn't help adding more green onions than it called for (the amount of green onions you use is entirely personal preference). The recipe also suggests using a store-bought pie crust, but I prefer making my own, so I've including the recipe for the crust as well. This is probably the best quiche recipe I've ever made, and I encourage you to give it a try!

Ingredients for Quiche:
1 pound bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 cup green onions, chopped (I used 3 green onions, which comes out to more than 1/4 cup)
8 oz. Swiss cheese, grated and divided
6 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp table salt
Dash of ground red pepper
Dash of white pepper
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg (If using a store-bought pie crust, you will need: 1/2 (14.1 oz.) package refrigerated pie crust)
    

Ingredients for Crust:
1-1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/3 cup shortening, crumbed 
6 Tbsp ice water

Directions:
1. For the crust, add flour and salt into a large bowl. Cut the stick of butter into cubes, and using your hands, crumble and mix the butter with the flour and salt. Add ice water to the mixture, and form a ball with the dough. Let the dough sit in the refrigerator for about half an hour. When rolling out the dough, you'll want to make sure it fits into the 9-inch pan and come up around the edges -- rolling the dough out to about 11 inches in diameter should do the trick.  

2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Fit pie crust (or homemade dough) into a 9-inch pie plate, folding the edges under, and crimp. Prick bottom and sides of crust with a fork then put in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to prevent shrinkage. Bake pie crust for 6 to 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Cool pie crust on a wire rack while preparing the filling.

3. Cook the bacon in a large skillet or pan over medium heat, stirring often, 7 to 8 minutes or until crispy. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle bacon over the bottom of pie shell. Sprinkle green onions over bacon, and sprinkle half of the Swiss cheese over the onions.

4. Whisk together beaten eggs and heavy cream, table salt, ground red pepper, white pepper, and ground nutmeg. Carefully pour egg mixture over the cheese and other ingredients. Sprinkle remaining cheese over the egg mixture.

5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 to 40 minutes, or until lightly browned and set in the middle. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.