Quiche

[bonaire]

Hi everyone. I'm attempting my first quiche this weekend. As background info, I'm a terrible, terrible cook. I'm only doing this to test out a recipe for an impending visit from my boyfriend's mother -- she's an excellent cook. I'm looking for both broad suggestions on how to not make this a disaster AND specific recommendations on a good pie crust I can purchase to use, as I don't think I'm competent enough to make my own crust!

Any suggestions on good extra ingredients to add in are welcome too -- what are people's favorite quiche recipes?

[lperry]

I use the one in the Joy of Cooking. It comes out perfectly every time with whatever fillings I use.

[Mark Slater]

Hi everyone. I'm attempting my first quiche this weekend. As background info, I'm a terrible, terrible cook. I'm only doing this to test out a recipe for an impending visit from my boyfriend's mother -- she's an excellent cook. I'm looking for both broad suggestions on how to not make this a disaster AND specific recommendations on a good pie crust I can purchase to use, as I don't think I'm competent enough to make my own crust!

Any suggestions on good extra ingredients to add in are welcome too -- what are people's favorite quiche recipes?

Go to the Dupont Market this Sunday and get the outrageously good bacon quiche from Highfield Dairy. You might go back and get some more to serve to MIL.

[Waitman]

Spend the fifty bucks on the Bouchon Cookbook and do exactly what it says. Admittedly, it's a Thomas Keller quiche, so it takes five times as long to make as any other quiche recipe ever conceived. The upside: it's apparently idiot-proof (I pulled it off, even the crust) and spectacular.

[zoramargolis]

If you are really nervous about pie crust, go to Trader Joe's and get a box of their frozen pie crust. It is made with butter, and is really good. Take one of the folded crusts out of the box and let it sit out at room temperature until it is soft and pliable. Open it up and fit it into a pie pan. If there are any cracks, seal them back up with a wet finger. Fold any overhanging crust under itself and then pinch with thumb and fingers or press a pattern around the rim with the tines of a fork. Then chill it for about an hour. Preheat your oven to about 400 degrees. Take the pie crust out of the fridge, fit a piece of parchment or aluminum foil into the crust, so that it comes up above the sides of the crust. Fill the liner with dried beans or uncooked rice (you can re-use either for the same purpose, but not to cook/eat). Bake the crust for about 10-12 minutes. Then get a heatproof bowl, open the oven and lift the foil or parchment with the beans and put them into the bowl. Close the crust back into the oven, turn the heat down to 300 and bake it for another 15 minutes. Take it out of the oven and let it cool before filling it with the quiche ingredients. Then bake as per the recipe. If the recipe calls for a crust that is not pre-baked, and it has a high/low oven temp., just use the lower temp. The filling may take a bit longer to cook, but the custard will be more tender. Remember to cook not strictly by the time called for in the recipe, but by your own measure of doneness. The filling should have only a tiny amount of jiggling in the very center of the quiche and be lightly browned on top. It will continue to cook when you take it out of the oven. Let it cool for at least a half hour to an hour before serving.