Tofu, Cheeze, Mushroom, and Spinach Quiche with Potato Crust

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My first memorable experience with quiche was as a small child at an awkward family Christmas party. I thought I was going to get a cheesy mini quiche and instead found gross, chewy chunks of ham and an overpowering wall of egg. Blech! Worse yet, the quiche with mushroom and asparagus… Those textures don’t go together, and for another thing — ew!

It wasn’t until my taste buds developed a bit that I started to enjoy quiche for the rich, savoury flavour, and the versatility, and indulgence. Then, soon after I’d learned to like quiche, I became vegan and stopped eating it altogether. Well done.

So, once I’d found that tofu was a satisfying and delicious substitute for egg (if done right, of course), it was only a matter of time before I found a substitute for quiche! Yes, it was tofu.

Now, before you run off from this post cringing about your distaste for tofu, please note that you can omit the tofu and substitute a chickpea alternative. How? Check out the link here to find out! Essentially, you mix chickpea flour with water and salt, heat, and cool to get a “chickpea tofu.”

The tofu base gets its eggy and savoury flavour from the nutritional yeast, mostly. (If you have black salt handy, sub in that too.) Combined with the tapioca flour it gets a solid, but soft texture that resembles a just-slightly-underdone quiche. I prefer using half medium-firm tofu and half smoked, firm tofu for the flavour and texture enhancement. It’s your choice whether you do that, though. (I would not recommend using only smoked tofu.)

The fun of this recipe come in with the flavour mixing in the filling choices. To me, spinach will always naturally go with egg. Maybe that’s not the case for you. You can try vegan ham and cheese, or roasted tomato and pesto, or whatever you like. I highly recommend this variation, however… It is divine.

Tofu, Cheeze, Mushroom, and Spinach Quiche with Potato Crust Recipe

This quiche is great for entertaining, and also great for meal prep. If you and your guests don’t eat it all at once, it makes for very tasty leftovers. Simply refrigerate and reheat in oven, toaster oven, or microwave.

Prep time: 30 minutes to 1 hour. I used vegan cheese already prepared for this quiche. I would not recommend making the cheese only for this recipe, but using pre-made (by you or the store).

Cook time: 45 minutes total (15, then 30).

Ingredients

Quiche Base

• 1/2 brick of medium firm tofu (organic, non-GMO)
• 1/2 brick of smoked firm tofu (organic, non-GMO)
• 1 cup of non-dairy unsweetened milk (I use organic almond)
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/4 cup tapioca flour/starch
• 1 tbs lemon juice
• 1 tbs minced chives
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp salt

Quiche Fillings

• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 shallot, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 4 mushroom caps, cleaned and finely chopped
• 2 cups of baby spinach, cleaned and loosely chopped
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup vegan cheese (I used my sharp vegan cheddar, but feel free to use shredded Daiya or Tofutti cream cheese)

Crust

• 2 medium russet potatoes, sliced finely
• 3 tbs oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Directions

Crust

Start with the crust, as you need to pre-bake before the filling.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Wash and optionally peel two large russet potatoes. Slice the potatoes, lengthwise very finely. If you have a mandoline slicer, use this.

Toss the potato slices in oil, salt, and pepper, and arrange in a pie pan to neatly cover the bottom and sides.

Bake for 15 minutes, and then set aside. Reduce the heat of the oven to 350 degrees F.

Quiche Fillings

There’s no shortage of variations on quiche fillings. Feel encouraged to experiment. I’ve found this variation to be especially delicious.

Chop up your shallot, garlic, mushroom caps, and spinach.

In a medium pan, heat oil and add shallot and saute. Once the shallot has become somewhat translucent, add garlic, and mushroom. Cook for 5-10 minutes on medium low heat.

Next, add spinach and cook until wilted.

Season mix with salt and pepper, and set aside.

Quiche Base

For the base of the quiche, you simply assemble all your ingredients in a large blender or food processor and whiz until it is thoroughly combined.

Gently mix in your fillings, including cheese, and pour/spatula the mixture into your potato crust. I like to add dollops of cheese to the top of the quiche as well. If you are using shredded vegan cheese, spread a thin layer on top.

Then bake quiche for 350 for 30 minutes. The top and edges should get slightly brown when it’s done.

The tofu quiche will firm up slightly, but will not acquire the jelly texture of a chicken egg quiche. Don’t worry that it is “underdone.” The potato crust gives a nice crunch texture to nicely complement the softness of the filling. If you prefer a filling texture that is more “set,” add 2 tbs of kappa carrageenan or 3 tbs of agar agar powder to the quiche base when blending. I prefer without.

Let the quiche cool for 10 minutes, then slice, and enjoy!