Spinach and Leek Quiche

This recipe is very loosely based on Bryanna's Vegan Bell Pepper and Mushroom Quiche. Obviously one difference is the vegetables, but I also substituted EnerG egg replacer for the cornstarch and agar, as well as increased the tofu and vegan parmesan and decreased the soymilk. I did try Bryanna's recipe as written, but I found that the blended mixture sat on top of the vegetables and was a little too pudding-like for my taste. I also lowered the temperature to allow the filling time to become dense before the outer surface forms a crust. The changes I made produce a pie that is closer in consistency to the quiches I remember from my pre-vegan days.

ingredients:
1 9" pie shell
1 Tbs olive oil
1 leek, cleaned and sliced thinly
1 lb frozen chopped spinach
2 Tbs EnerG egg Replacer powder
1-1/4 cup soymilk
1 tsp vegetarian chicken bouillon (amount needed to make 1 cup broth)
1 dash of turmeric
1 dash nutmeg
a pinch of salt and pepper
1 cup firm tofu
1/2 cup Galaxy Foods Vegan Soy Parmesan
a dash of paprika

1. Bake the pie shell at the temperature indicated for a no-bake pie filling. Err on the side of undercooked. My pie crusts called for 425 F for 11-16 minutes, so I baked mine at 425 F for 10 mins. Once the shell is baked, cool completely and set the oven to 350 F.

2. Sweat the leeks in the olive oil until translucent (I used a covered cast-iron skillet).

3. Add spinach to the softened leeks and stir uncovered until most of the moisture is gone and the spinach is almost dry. Patience and a med-low heat are needed here.

4. Once the spinach is almost dry, remove from the heat and let the mixture cool while you blend the rest of the ingredients.

5. Add the EnerG powder to a medium-sized bowl, and slowly whisk in the soymilk until it is a smooth but thick liquid. Whisk in the bouillon (pulverize with a fork first if you're using a cube instead of a powder or paste), turmeric, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Use enough turmeric to give the mixture a nice egg-y color.

6. Whir the tofu in a food processor or blender before adding the EnerG-soymilk mixture and blending the entire thing a few seconds until smooth.

7. Stir together the blended mixture, the soy parmesan, and the cooled spinach mixture before filling the cooled pie shell.

8. Smooth the top of the unbaked quiche with a spoon or spatula and lightly sprinkle with paprika before baking in a 350 F preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until the filling is firm and has started to crack.

Veganomicon: Suateed Seitan with Mushrooms and Spinach

I will be the first to admit that this is not the most appetizing photo... But this dish was sooo good. Paul and I both love seitan, and I usually buy the Chicken-Style seitan from White Wave. The first seitan I ever tasted was one that I made myself when I was just a teenager in my mother's kitchen. I think that I had come across a vague description of what seitan was calling it a protein source made from kneading wheat dough and rinsing away the starches in water. I used flour, probably bread flour, made a dough out of it and then proceeded to knead and rinse he dough in the kitchen sink under running water. I don't even think that I used broth to boil it in, just water. But what resulted was as close to the White Wave seitan as I've ever come. Most recipes for home-made seitan use lots of flavor ingredients and vital wheat gluten flour. The result is, shall we say, globular. I think that the process of kneading and then washing out the starches later produces longer chains of gluten which give the seitan a more definite grain pattern rather than the chaotic grain of seitan made with vital wheat gluten flour. Of course this is all just conjecture based on a singular incident when I was very young, and I haven't bothered to test this hypothesis.

The Veganomicon recipe for Simple Seitan produces a seitan that isn't pretty to look at, but the flavor is really quite good. I'm glad that the authors simplified the recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance down to a more reasonable list of ingredients. The Sauteed Seitan with Mushrooms and Spinach was delightful. Paul and I both loved it. I served it with quinoa cooked in the rice cooker using the broth that the seitan was boiled in. Unfortunately I should have tasted the dish before adding the salt that the recipe calls for because the end result was too salty even for Paul who usually salts up anything I cook regardless of how much salt I add while cooking, I've stopped trying to compensate for his love of salt altogether. Having said all that, this dish was so good that we ate it all anyway.

Veganomicon: Lasagne Marinara with Spinach

You may have noticed that we eat a lot of pasta. I think it's one of those food-ruts that vegetarians, especially vegans fall into when they dine frequently with omnivores. It's easy, it's not so weird that other people feel the need to comment on and "judge" your food choices, and it's a very comforting and traditional meal for a lot of modern Euro-American families. We happen to love pasta, not only for those reasons just mentioned, but also because it's a romantic and sensuous food. Pasta cooked al-dente has a soft, yet resilient texture that brings to mind other carnal activities. It also happens that some of our first meals together as a couple revolved around pasta and red wine, which makes it a very evocative menu specifically for us as a couple. So it shouldn't come as too much of a shock that our Valentine's meal came from the pasta family.

I love lasagna, I often make my own version of this dish for us, and I really wanted to love this recipe... but I didn't.

I chose the pinenut cream White and Red Lasagne variation with the standard recipes for Marinara Sauce, Tofu Ricotta, and Almesan (almond-based parmesan substitute) from the book. Unfortunately I think that the combined effect of all of that lemon flavor was overpowering to the finished lasagna. I do love lemon, don't get me wrong, but there is such a thing as too much, especially in a tomato-based dish. Instead of lending a subtle "sparkle" as Christina Pirello would say, the compounded lemon flavor turned into a cloying distraction from what should have been the main cast of characters. If you choose to make this recipe, I suggest making a decision as to which cast member gets the sparkle, and omitting the lemon from the other players.

The second problem with this recipe is that it turned out exceptionally soupy. I don't usually have that much of a problem with excess liquid in my lasagna, and while I did drain and squeeze the spinach, the liquid levels of the dish were overwhelming. I suggest using no-cook noodles and skipping the extra water that the recipe calls for.

Lastly, the amount of oil called for in the various parts of the recipe seemed excessive and really didn't add anything to the flavor or texture of the final product. Go ahead and skip most of the oil in this recipe and give your fat cells a break. Feel free to use a good canned or jarred sauce to save yourself the extra work of preparing the sauce, go ahead and use a frozen spinach instead of fresh, and feel free to use dried garlic instead of fresh here too. I don't think that any of those things would make a significant impact on the recipe, and there's no point in additional work if it doesn't result in exceptional flavor.

Veganomicon: Pumpkin Saag and Saffron-Garlic Rice

The Pumpkin Saag reminded me of a red lentil, quinoa, spinach salad recipe that was in Veggie Life in the grains issue. Unfortunately I didn't read the recipe carefully before shopping for ingredients and planned on using the pureed pumpkin left-over from my pumpkin bread recipe. The difference only seemed to affect the texture and not the flavor. I think this is one dish that I would make spicier, since I tend to expect it in a curry.

The Saffron-Garlic Rice had a wonderful flavor, but just a bit too much oil for my taste. I think if I make this one again I will cut back the oil to less tan a tablespoon. I also changed the slivered almonds to frozen peas added right at the end and lightly steamed on the hot rice (with the lid on). I think that almonds would be just as wonderful, I just felt like bright green peas would make a nice light alternative in such a weighty dish.