Real Vegans Do Eat Quiche

I've been looking for a vegan quiche recipe for a while now.  I kept going back and forth in my head wondering if I really wanted to venture into what is traditionally a quintessential egg dish.  The thought of making quiche without eggs and lots of gooey cheese just didn't seem right.  I grew up with both my grandmother and mother making delicious quiche so I was a little skeptical.

I found the recipe below on allrecipes.com, a website that I peruse quite a bit.  So I decided to make the leap and try it out.  The results were much better than I had imagined.  In fact, I liked it even better on day two!  I brought a slice to my vegan friend, D., to get an unbiased opinion and she thought it was great.  So here it is...

Tofu Quiche with Broccoli

1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust
1 pound broccoli, chopped
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 an onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 leek, white part chopped
2 - 3 white button mushrooms
1 pound firm tofu, drained and pressed for a little while
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg (I didn't use the nutmeg)
1/2 tsp. ground red pepper
black pepper to taste
1 Tbsp. dried parsley
2 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese (I used Nutritional yeast instead)

Preheat oven to 400.  Bake pie crust for 10-12 minutes.  You could also make this recipe crustless for fewer calories.
Steam broccoli until tender but still firm.  Drain.
Heat oil in a large skillet.  Saute onion, mushrooms, leeks and garlic until tender.  Stir in the broccoli and heat through.
In a food processor, combine tofu, soy milk, mustard, salt, nutmeg, red pepper, black pepper, parsley and Parm; process until smooth.
In a large bowl, combine tofu mixture and broccoli mixture.  Pour into pie crust.
Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until quiche is set.  Allow to stand 5 minutes before cutting.

Here is what it looks like when it's done:

If you find that the edges of the pie crust are getting too dark, simply cover the edges with foil and continue baking.

This quiche makes a great lunch with a salad or a fantastic brunch dish.  The texture of the tofu is exactly like eggs, it's really quite amazing.  Also, you could make this with any kind of vegetable. Next time, I think I'm going to add spinach and some red pepper.  The skies the limit really!

Enjoy!

Peace and love.

P.S.  Stay tuned, tomorrow's recipe is really a good one...