Best Craig Claibornes Chess Pie Recipes

QUICHE LORRAINE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Line a nine-inch pie plate with the pastry. By all means build a rim with the pastry and flute it. This is essential for the amount of custard indicated in this recipe.
• Cover the bottom of the pastry with a round of parchment paper and add enough dried beans or peas to partly fill the shell. Bake 10 minutes.
• Reduce the oven heat to 375 degrees. Remove and discard the beans and parchment paper and set the pastry-lined pie plate aside.
• Cook the bacon until crisp and remove it from skillet. Pour off all but one tablespoon of the fat remaining in the skillet. Cook the onion in the remaining fat until the onion is transparent.
• Crumble the bacon and sprinkle the bacon, onion and cheeses over the inside of the partly baked pastry.
• Combine the eggs, cream, nutmeg, salt, pepper and Tabasco sauce to taste. Strain the mixture over the onion-cheese mixture. Slide the pie onto a baking sheet.
• Bake the pie until a knife inserted one inch from the pastry edge comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Remove to a wire rack. Let stand five or 10 minutes before serving.

PIE PASTRY

Steps:

• Put the flour, butter and sugar into the container of a food processor. Start blending.
• Gradually add enough water so that the dough can be gathered into a fairly cohesive ball.
• If a food processor is not used, place the flour and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add the butter and cut it in with two knives or a pastry blender until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal. Add the water, stirring quickly with a fork.
• Gather the dough into a ball and flatten it into a round disk one-inch thick. Wrap the dough in wax paper and chill for an hour or less.