Mini quiche
It’s confession time again — in my pre-vegan days I never liked quiche. The sheer egginess of it always appalled me, even before we discovered that I was allergic to the damned eggy things.
But y’know, virtually everyone I know loves quiche, so I thought maybe it was time to give it another whirl. A vegan whirl. SusanV at FatFree Vegan Kitchen gets all the credit for this. Her crustless quiches looked good enough to tempt even me. How can you go wrong with tofu?
I wanted mine to have crusts, though, so I used the last of a large batch of whole wheat Never Fail Pie Crust to line eight mini tart pans and two pot pie pans. These I filled with the quiche mixture. My own was a leek and mushroom version — I used 2/3rds of a leek, finely chopped, in place of bell pepper. The mushrooms were sliced very thin. I used almond butter in place of tahini, thyme in place of rosemary, a bit of extra oil. Realistically these were all fairly minor alterations. The one change that I think made a real difference was using regular firm tofu instead of silken. A couple commenters mentioned that their mini quiche didn’t firm up completely, so I figured a firmer tofu might be the answer.
The results? Everybody who ate them liked them. Even my omnivore roommate declared them ‘quiche-y.’ The larger quiches (in the pot pie pans) proved to have a better, moister consistency when reheated. The little ones were a nice size for lunches. While tasty to start with, they were all noticeably tastier a couple days later. Mmmmmm. My only problem with them was that the leek greens ‘bled’ a little of their colour, so that the quiches weren’t the soft, buttery yellow I would have liked. Next time I’ll know to use only the whites, or maybe try shallots instead.
Randomness
Today our nice local veggie people dropped off our nice local veggies. I’d ordered basil (mmmm, pesto!), but to my surprise I didn’t find a bunch of cut herbs — I found an entire plant! A nice, bushy little basil plant, complete with roots. It doesn’t get fresher than that. Given that just yesterday I bought seeds to grow my own, I have to admit I’m tempted to plant it and see what happens. It’s so fresh and healthy looking. I can go without pesto for a bit…
On another random note, today I realized just how much my eating patterns have shifted in the past four months. I was cleaning the fridge (*shudder*), and found no less than three unopened packages of tofu, plus another of veggie ground. Three of those were significantly past their best-before date. Apparently I’ve really moved away from eating fake meat and tofu. It’s not that I don’t enjoy them — I’ve just been eating more beans and nuts, and meals more centered around vegetables than meat substitutes. I miss my tofu though — tonight I’m making tofu quiche dammit. There’s still pie dough left over from a massive pie-making foray (veggie and curry pot pies, mmmmmm), so it shouldn’t be too difficult. The pies were supposed to stock the freezer, but there are only two left! I used this recipe for “no fail pie crust”, and it delivered as promised even with my substitution of 1/3 whole wheat flour. The best part was not having to roll the dough (except for the pie tops). Once upon a time I was pretty darned good at making and rolling pie crusts…but then I didn’t do it for years and now I’ve lost the knack. 😦
The Lustful Vegan 