Vegan Quiche Lorraine- Perfect Easter Dish
Spring is here and the Easter long weekend is just around the corner. "Great! Another family gathering or hosting of friends where you are needed to provide some sort of contribution!", you think to yourself. For some of us, it's hard to find the time to make a huge meal or spread for a group of people, and that can cause a lot of stress and take the fun out of enjoying the holiday.
We say, "To heck with that! Yo girls are gonna give you something super easy and delicious to serve at this year's Easter!".
Quiche Lorraine! If you have never heard of it, quiche is a French "pie" that is an open flan consisting of pastry crust filled with eggs, milk or cream, and cheese, meat, seafood or vegetables. It is a great dish to serve at parties. Think of it as a frittata with a crust. What makes it Lorraine you ask? Well, the smoky bacon, leeks and cheese that are found in a traditional Quiche Lorraine are what gives it that distinct taste. But! In this case, there are no eggs, no cheese, no meat and no cream in ours!
We will be using smoky tofu strips as the bacon, vegan mozzarella as the cheese and chickpea flour as the egg. The combination of leeks, smoky tofu, sweet, flaky pastry crust and the spices leave you wanting a second piece, and asking yourself if your pants can hold you in, cause trust us when we say you will want a second piece.
You can make the crust and rolled out the night before, so all you have to do on the day of your dinner party/brunch, is make the filling, assemble and bake. The quiche comes out looking fab and people will think you bought it from your local grocer. We say, throw those people out! How dare they think you didn't make it from scratch! You are a rock star in the kitchen!
To watch Lo make it, click here!
To make this you will need:
Oven at 400 F
Glass pie plate
To make the pie crust:
1 1/4 cup All Purpose Unbleached Flour
1 tbsp. Sugar
1/4 tsp. Salt
6 tbsp. Vegan Butter, COLD!
2 tbsp. Vegetable Shortening, COLD!
4 tbsp. ICE COLD WATER!
In a bowl, mix your flour, sugar and salt.
Add your cold vegan butter and shortening to your flour mixture and place in the freezer so everything becomes cold. 10 minutes will do.
Once chilled; with a fork, cut the fats into the flour. You are looking for it to become course crumbs.
Drizzle the ice cold water into your flour and fat mixture and mix quickly with your fork till a ball of dough forms.
Don't stress if there are some dry pieces that didn't get mixed in. The next step will fix that.
With quick hands; don't be nervous, the sweat from your hands can moisten the dough, you are going to knead 10-12 times to form into a ball.
Form into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and place in freezer for 30 minutes- 1 hour to chill and relax. *Very important you let relax and chill. This will make it easy to roll and prevent your pastry springing back into place when rolling it.
Once the dough is chilled, flour your surface and rolling pin.
Roll from center to out, rotating pie crust to keep the circular shape and from sticking to the counter. Add more flour to top and bottom of dough when it feels too sticky.
Roll out the dough to fill your pie plate. You want the dough to hang slightly over the pan as this will give you that delicious crust.
Once in plate, cut any access dough that hangs over the plate. You want the same amount all around.
Turn pastry under press in to get rid of any air.
Crimp the edges however you see fit.
Place in freezer till ready to use.
For the filling:
1 1/2 cups Chickpea Flour
2 1/4 cups Water
2 cups Spinach Leaves
1 cup Smoked Tofu, sliced
1 lg. Leek , halved lengthwise and sliced *Only use the white part, NOT the green part **Once sliced, soak for a few minutes in a bowl of water to get rid any sand that might be stuck in the leek, rinse and then strain.
1/2 cup Vegan Mozzarella
2 tbsp. Olive Oil
2 tbsp. Nutritional Yeast
1/2 tsp. Nutmeg
1 tsp. Turmeric
1/2 tsp. Dried Thyme or fresh if you have it
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Cracked Black Pepper
Heat pan over medium high.
Add the oil and sauté the leeks for about 2 minutes.
Add the smoked tofu and cook for another 2 minutes.
Add the spinach and cook till they wilt.
Remove from heat and let cool. You do not want your mixture hot when adding it to your cold pie crust. Cool for 15 minutes.
In a bowl, mix the chickpea flour, water, spices, salt and pepper.
Once your veggie mixture is cooled, remove your pie crust from the freezer.
Spread your veggie mixture on the bottom of the pie crust.
Sprinkle the cheese on top.
Pour the chickpea mixture on top and spread to cover everything.
Place your quiche in your oven in the middle rack and cook for 45 minutes.
You want your crust to be golden brown and your filling will be solid and a little cracked.
Cool for 10-15 minutes before cutting and serving.
Enjoy!!