Pie crust (Recipe: asparagus, mushroom and sausage quiche)
What I'm about to say might shock you.
I like the taste of refrigerated pie crust, the kind that comes in a box that you buy in the supermarket in the aisle with tubes of crescent rolls and pizza dough and ready-to-bake cookies.
I really like it.
And I like it when I serve something made with store-bought pie crust, and everyone from chef friends to picky grandkids compliments the crust. I don't take credit for making the crust, of course, but I like that people like it, even after I tell them I didn't make it from scratch.
There's always a package of pie crust in the refrigerator. I don't bake pies often, but I use the crusts all the time, for apple pie and empanadas and calzones.
What is pie crust?
A wheat pastry dough, sold in packages of two rounds sized to fit a 9-inch pie plate. If you are avoiding food additives such as BHA and BHT, read labels carefully, as some popular brands of pie crust contain these ingredients.
How/where to store?
In the refrigerator until the use-by date on the package. After that, in the freezer for up to two months.
More facts about pie crust, and ingredient photos, on The Perfect Pantry:
Pie crust (Recipe: old-fashioned apple pie)
Asparagus, mushroom and sausage quiche
What started as a clean-out-the-fridge project morphed into a quiche I was happy to serve to my friend Lilly, a culinary academic, cooking instructor and fellow food blogger, for lunch on a sunny day. I've been on a hot Italian turkey sausage kick lately, but feel free to substitute another type of sausage, or to omit it for a vegetarian quiche. Serves 6-8.
Ingredients
1 refrigerated pie crust, or homemade pie crust for a single-crust pie
2 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
10 thin asparagus spears, ends trimmed, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
2-3 large button mushrooms, diced
3 links hot Italian turkey sausage, removed from the casing
1/4 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp dried thyme leaf or 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves or flat-leaf parsley
4 eggs + 1 egg
2 Tbsp Greek yogurt
1/4 cup grated Gruyere cheese
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp fresh black pepper
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Unroll one pie crust (for a 9-inch pie) and center it in a pie plate. (I used a standard Pyrex® pie plate.) Crimp the edges by hand, or press a design all around with a fork. Set aside.
In a nonstick frying pan, heat the olive oil over low-medium heat. Add the onion, asparagus, mushrooms and sausage and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes until the sausage is lightly browned and the onions are translucent. Add the fennel seeds and thyme, stir to combine, and set aside to cool for at least 15 minutes. (This step is important; if the filling is too hot, it will melt the pastry before the quiche gets to the oven. The filling also can be made in advance and refrigerated.)
In a large measuring cup or bowl, whisk 4 eggs until they are smooth. Add the yogurt, and whisk again. Stir in the cheese, salt and pepper.
Scatter the vegetable and sausage filling evenly in the pie crust. Pour the egg mixture over the top. Push it around with a rubber spatula so it covers all of the vegetables.
In a small bowl, beat 1 egg with 1 teaspoon of water. Using a brush, paint the crust with the beaten egg.
Bake for 40 minutes. Let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before serving. Serve warm, at room temperature, or cold.
More recipes in The Perfect Pantry:
One-bite vegetable quiche
Oven-baked tortilla Española
Zucchini frittata
Empanaditas
Classic pecan pie
As-American-as apple pie
Other recipes that use refrigerated pie crust:
Upside down apple pie, from Noble Pig
Leftover turkey pot pie, from White Trash BBQ
Mini jam-filled turnovers, from Inn Cuisine
Classic pumpkin pie, from YumSugar
Snickers Bar mini tarts, from Recipe Girl
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I used stor-bought pastry, too. I do bake mine from time to time, but for daily meals, I can't be too fussy!
I really like this quiche since there is not a lot of cream in it!
I am quite the fan of savory pies, and probably have everything in house to make this over the weekend ... except the pie crust. By the way, you SHOULD take credit for making the crust. You opened the box, didn't you?
you SHOULD take credit for making the crust. You opened the box, didn't you?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
hahaha great comment!
I have to try this....it looks too good not to. Thanks
That quiche looks perfect and extremely tasty!
Cheers,
Rosa
You can always say, "It's mine!"
And, of course, it is.
You paid for it, didn't you?
I'm making several quiches for Easter brunch and am including this one!
This seriously was very good. In retrospect I should have pretended to forget that it needed to be photographed and taken it down with reckless abandon.
Apparently, I have better manners than I thought. I blame the quiche.
i seriously prefer the savory pies over sweet (unless it's spicy pecan pie, but that might be savory too).
so this looks so good!
I wonder if brand makes a difference? (Duh.) I imagine that most people use the Pillsbury refrigerated crusts, but you seem to be talking about something else entirely? I've never even seen a whole wheat crust.
PS My own trick for the roll-out crusts is to roll them thinner before putting into the pie plate. But then again, I don't really like the taste of these crusts, so am happy to remove some of the thickness and extra edges.
I love your quiche with the sausage and asparagus. It has to be delicious! Yum!
I love your quiche filling combination here. Have to confess that I've only made pie crust from scratch one or two times in my entire cooking life. Hmm, wonder if these pre-made crusts come in whole wheat?
I am soooooooooooooo happy someone else has confessed! I love pre-made pie crust, too!!!
I love that you get away with putting Greek yogurt in practically everything!
Anh, there's no cream at all, and yet the yogurt makes it taste very rich. And I'm with you -- for weekdays, it has to be quick or I don't make it.
TW, Milton, Alyce: okay, folks, next time I will take credit!
Rosa, honestly, the crust helps to make it look pretty and taste pretty good, too.
Lilly, I know the two of us could have polished off the whole quiche. Why didn't we?! It was such fun to cook with you.
Vanillasugar, I'm the same way, always would rather have savory than sweet. Apple pie is the one exception. I seldom make it because I have no self-control!
Alanna, store brand crusts can be pretty good, though I do like the Pillsbury crusts. But for those who are avoiding additives, Whole Foods carries some brands to check out.
Pam, hot Italian sausage is my new passion food. I've been putting it in everything lately.
Kalyn, I'll confess the same. When I first got a food processor, way back when, one of the recipes in the booklet that came with it was for pate sucre, a basic pie crust, and I made it all the time. Then I discovered that I liked the taste of store-bought, and I stopped making my own. I'm not much of a pie eater, but I like making quiche, especially for picnics and potlucks.
Donna, I confess!
Maris, I love cooking with Greek yogurt, so I was thrilled to discover that it really adds richness to quiche.
My sister-in-law, while eating a slice of apple pie I took to a family dinner, asked if I'd made the crust myself. When I said no, she asked if I unrolled it myself. I nodded happily, while chewing, that I had!
One of the things I love about your blog, Lydia, is that you are up front about using store-bought stuff. I say - go for it! There are some things that just work - especially when you put the time and great ingredients into the rest of the dish, as you do in this one.
Own your crust love Lydia!!!
Those refrigerated products are ever so handy in a pinch!! Or, just because.
I was just thinking today about asparagus quiche, and I get home and see you posted one. I see plenty of aspargus in the market right now. We love quiche and DH will eat it till it is gone.
I like to float 4 very thin tomato slices on top of my quiche just before baking and sprinkle lightly with fresh chopped parsley. It looks so pretty and I like the bit of extra flavor on top.
I have always used the deep dish pie crust in the pan from the freezer case for mine. :) You are in good company!
I love quiche very much, even if it's famous for breakfast, it can be eaten during lunch and dinner as well. I am delighted to try Italian turkey sausage, like your recipe. Thank you for sharing this! :)
Made the quiche for Easter brunch (along with a couple of others). Put the filling in the crust and it looked way skinny. There was no milk or cream listed to add to the beaten eggs. Was that on purpose or did I miss something? My 2-pt tart pan had already leaked one whole quiche's custard into the bottom of my oven, so I put this one in a 10" pyrex pie pan and baked it in my small oven. Anyway, I added 1/2 c milk and 1/2 heavy cream beaten together with one more egg. SUPER:) Everyone loved it.
Rocquie, I'm going to follow your lead!
Toni, every now and then we all take a bit of help from the store. My goal is to put the best food I can on the table, and if someone else makes a better pie crust than I do, I'll use the better product.
EB, thanks for the pep talk!
Pat, yes, just because....
Barb, the tomato slices would make a lovely topping here. It's something I'll do in the summer, when we start to get tomatoes with real flavor. The tomato selection around here is pretty poor right now.
Kathy, it's funny, but I never think of quiche for breakfast. Brunch, yes, but I don't do brunch very often. To me it's a perfect lunch dish.
Alyce, did you put the yogurt in? The yogurt replaces milk and cream, and adds both richness and liquid. It also seems to help the filling "rise" a bit. I'm sorry this didn't work for you as written, but I do hope you'll try it again. It's one of my most tried-and-true recipes.
Love those red boxes of rolled crust. I too make quiche as a "use it up" dish. No two are ever alike.
I actually dock the crust and bake it for 8-10 mins and let it cool a bit before filling and baking again. I feel like if I don't.. the bottom crust will be soggy. but I may try the yogurt trick as I usually make mine all full fat eggs and whole milk.
Made this for dinner tonight. I used vegetarian Italian sausage (veggie not soy based)and mozzarella--because I didn't have gruyere. It was unbelievably fabulous, and the Greek yogurt tip is such a good one. It was packed full of yummy things and creamy without being high in fat. The veggie sausage was a revelation, too. We'll be eating this whenever we can. I posted this link on my FB page for others to enjoy. Thanks.