The Best Spinach Quiche Ever
5 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 medium sweet onion, finely diced
1 small zucchini, thinly sliced
5 medium sized crimini mushrooms, thinly sliced
1-1 1/2 tablespoon sea salt, to taste, divided
1 tablespoon sherry, optional
3 garlic cloves, sliced thin
6-8 fresh basil leaves, chopped
1/4 tablespoon dried thyme
scant pinch red pepper flakes
1 (16 ounce) package firm tofu, drained and pressed for at least 30 minutes
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 (16 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach
1 pie shell (I use Marie Callender's deep dish)
paprika, to taste
buttery nonstick spray
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a skillet on medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and add the onions, mushrooms, and zucchini. Caramelize for about 10 minutes or so. When nice and brown, add 1/2 tablespoon of salt and the sherry to deglaze and cook for another minute until dry.
2. Remove and place in a medium sized mixing bowl. In the same pan on medium heat, add the rest of the oil and saute the garlic, basil, thyme, and red pepper flakes for about 3 minutes until the garlic is slightly golden but do not brown.
3. Pour garlic concoction into a food processor and crumble the drained tofu on top. Add the vinegar, lemon juice, and the rest of the salt. Puree until really smooth.
4. Add to the onion/mushroom mixture in bowl. Using the same pan once again, saute the spinach until heated through. Once finished, squeeze all excess water out and add to the tofu mixture, stirring all ingredients together well.
5. Spray pie crust with buttery spray, and smooth down mixture into the pie shell. Dust with paprika, and bake for 35-45 minutes until crust is golden brown and tofu is somewhat firm.
Okay, so I know the ingredient list and the directions seem really long, but let me assure you, it is not as difficult as it seems and it is oh so worth it! I served this quiche with a side of steamed cauliflower with a touch of vegan margarine.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
This was just perfect. Aptly named for sure! I did find it rather time-consuming but worth it. Pressing the tofu, squeezing out the spinach (which is a must-do step; I got out a ton of liquid), squeezing the lemon, chopping all the veggies, using the food processor, etc. got me thinking that next time I'll pre-prep the veggies the day before.
I used a frozen vegan crust, and I thawed it for 10 minutes, pricked with a fork and baked at 400F for 10 minutes, and cooled it prior to filling. I find this makes a difference for savory pies.
I followed this exactly to get a feel for the basic recipe, and now I'm looking forward to experimenting with Daiya, other veggies, nutritional yeast, curry... endless possibilities!
I'm uploading the photo of the quiche on the table of my elegant brunch :-)
certainly no understatement in that title ;)b
This quiche lives up to its name! Made it today for Mother's Day and my whole family loved it. I cut back on the salt (used closer to 1.5/2 tsp) and oil, added red and yellow bell pepper for color, and only used half the spinach called for in the recipe. Made my own pie shell using a sweeter crust, "World's Easiest Pie Crust," (http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=6769.0) and loved the combination of sweet and salty. I'd definitely recommend this over the other quiche recipes I've tried in the past! :)
I keep meaning to review this recipe, it has earned a spot in my paper recipe file-it since I make it so much. It's perfect for taking to parties, serving to non vegans, etc. The texture and taste is really spot on.
I add some parmesan 'cheese' to the top, a recipe I really need to post. It's a combo of bread crumbs, nut. yeast, italian seasoning and garlic powder.
just popped mine into the oven...from what i've nibbled so far, it is tasting DELISH. Great recipe (although I only had chard on hand instead of spinach!)
thanks a bunch for posting this!
This is odd... I swore I reviewed this once...
I made this quiche once following the directions, and for my taste it was very salty. Made it again using salt-free Spike in place of most of the salt, adding salt to taste in the tofu mixture and again when the tofu was combined with all the veggies. Absolutely delicious!
I also subbed a spray of oil for most of the 5 tablespoons of olive oil... maybe used a tablespoon to fry the garlic/herbs but that was it.
This was fabulous, simple and easy! I did not use spinach, mushroom or zuchini cuz i wanted to use what I had from the garden so I used instead sweet potato, collard greens, and onion! Amazing, like a sweet breakfast quiche. I also skipped the whole sherry bit and thought it was fine as is! Delicious! Thanks!
Really, really tasty! I didn't have crimini mushrooms on hand, so I subbed in some baby bellas. I also didn't have any sherry, but it still came out great. I will definitely make this again (soon)!
For reference, preparation took me about 45 minutes to an hour- but I tend to be a bit scatterbrained in the kitchen.
Gosh... I want to scream this was so good. Actually, I did scream when I ate this. And it scared my dogs half to death. This is a fantastic recipe. Thank you for sharing it!
This was WOAHHH good. REALLY REALLY awesome- good. I have to admit that I almost never follow recipes as written but for this one I did since it is so well detailed, with a few minor alterations: No zucchini, only dried spices, and I added a diced bell pepper to the onions/mushrooms a little before the sherry and some mustard, walnuts, and nooch in with the tofu puree.
I CANNOT IMAGINE A MORE PERFECT QUICHE. Also, I did end up cooking it for over 75 minutes since it wasn't feeling 'firm' enough to me but that could be because it was pretty thick since there was a decent amount of filling, and I think my oven might be weird. But after all that time it wasn't even close to burnt, and the top was perfectly browned with a surprisingly parmesan like texture (I didn't use any cheese - soy or not) and a perfectly golden bottom crust.
Bottom line: The name of this quiche is NOT hubristic...it really is the best!
I literally just ate a third of the whole thing in the last 10 minutes, and only stopped because I need to save some for experimenting w/freezing it.
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