Pastry Dough

I attended a pastry class at Plate It Up! on Saturday taught by Chef Pat Smith and she taught us a very neat trick for rolling out the dough to exactly the right thickness and getting the thickness uniform.

For pies and tarts, the dough needs to be rolled out to 1/8 inch thick. To do that, buy two 1/8-inch diameter wooden dowels. Place one on each side of the dough. When you’ve rolled out the dough to the correct thickness, the rolling pin is resting on the dowels. Even the fumbling Foodie can get it right.

With visions of a quiche running through my head, I made a batch of dough and brought it home. After some back-and-forth, I settled on a Ham, Mushroom, and Asparagus quiche. I kinda winged it, so the recipe is a little rough.

Ham, Mushroom, and Asparagus Quiche

1 cup (approx) diced pre-cooked ham
1 cup (approx) asparagus spears, cut crosswise in short ((1/2-inch to 1-inch) sections
1 cup (approx) sliced mushrooms
2 cups shredded Gruyere cheese
3 eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1 partially-baked pie crust
2 shallots, finely chopped

Preheat the oven to 375F. Suate the shallots until translucent. Toss in the asparagus and sute for another 5 minutes or so. Toss in the mushrooms and saute until the mushrooms and asparagus have browned slightly.

Spread half the cheese on the bottom of the pie crust. Add the ham and the shallot/mushroom.asparagus mixture. Cover with the remaining cheese.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the cream and eggs and pour the mixture over the top layer of cheese. Put the quiche in the oven and let bake until the center is firm. Remove from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Pat’s pastry dough recipe resulted in a very nice flaky crust. Sometime in the next week or two I will make another batch and take pictures.

Tags: Pastry Dough,Quiche