Quiche. Cooked. Separately.
Hear me out. My Husband, bless his wonderfully, grateful heart, will eat anything I put before him. Even if it is
But I vowed to make him a quiche that would not leak water on his plate.
And I did it. Last night.
Let me tell you how.
Revelation 1: Cook the crust, BY ITSELF! Seriously. Blind bake that sucker. You'll have a perfectly non-soggy crust by the end.
Here's a great pate brisee recipe for that:
1 1/2 c flour
1 tbs water
1 egg
pinch of salt
7 tbsp butter softened
Put your flour on the counter and make a big well in the center. Basically you're making an atoll of flour (geography minor humor) but it should look like a big O on your counter.
Put the egg, water, and salt on one side of your O, and stir them together with your fingers. Put the softened butter on the other side of the O and incorporate it really well into the egg/water/salt mixture.
Now, scrape a bit of flour into the butter/egg/water/salt mixture at a time until it sticks together. Then using the heel of your hand spread the dough away from you on the counter until you have a very soft and smooth dough. Form into a round and refrigerate (covered) for 30 minutes.
Pre heat oven to 400.
Roll out dough on a floured surface until an inch or so bigger than your pie dish or tart shell if you have one. Sprinkle some flour on top of the dough and carefully fold it in half, sprinkle more flour and fold it in half again. Line up the corner with the center of your dish and carefully unfold.
Use the rolling pin to roll off any excess dough. Use that extra dough to push the pie pan dough into the corners. Then make a pretty decorative edge. Prick the bottom all over with a fork (this releases water while cooking)
Refrigerate for 10 minutes.
Line with parchment paper and pie weights and cook for 15 minutes.
Remove pie weights and paper and brush crust with:
Revelation 1.5: Egg glaze that crust!
Whisk up one egg and brush the entire crust with it. Put back in the oven and bake for 10 minutes more.
Remove from oven and let cool for a bit.
Revelation 2: Cook the vegetables, BY THEMSELVES! in a pan while the crust is baking (so in total maybe 10 -15 minutes of cooking time for these guys). The secret to my watery madness was that I was putting raw veggies into a raw crust and while they cooked, all the water seeped out and made watery pockets in the egg filling. But by cooking them in the pan and releasing all that water through evaporation -hey, this could be a science lesson -you are ensuring that the veggies are cooked, and the egg stays creamy and not soggy at all.
Revelation 3: More yolks than whites. Again, it's all about the water content, and those egg whites are the watery-est part of the egg. So reducing the water means -you got it -less soggy quiche.
So after you've blind baked that crust, and sauteed your veggies in butter until they are nice and cooked (but not really browned), whisk the rest of your egg glaze with 3 egg yolks, 1 c heavy cream/creme fraiche/sour cream/ milk (if you must!), a dash of salt and pepper and a dash of nutmeg.
Spread the veggies over the bottom of the crust, pour the egg mixture over that. Liberally apply your grated cheese, and bake for another 15-20 minutes at 375 degrees.
It was the best quiche ever. I was so proud to finally serve (and duh, eat) a non-soggy quiche.
Sorry there are no photos, you'll just have to believe me. And you really should make it. It's a great way to use up bits of veggies. We used half a red and half a green bell pepper, 3 mushrooms, 1/4 onion, 2 cloves garlic, and one zucchini. The zucchini is usually what makes my quiche watery. Also, if you want to use tomatoes, cut them in half and gently squeeze out the seeds (or, the "water' part) before you cook them. Then they wont contribute too much water to your quiche.
Happy Quiche-ing! Tell me how yours turned out.
I just made a quiche this week! I'll have to try some of your tips next time. My crust was a bit mushy.
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