Gluten free Shiitake “Bacon” Vegan Quiche

Well, I am finally back with a new recipe. My previous few recipes received a lot of attention, and I felt a little frozen to try and top them! This may not top the rainbow cookies, but I am excited that I made it. This recipe is adapted from my jalapeño popper quiche I made awhile ago here.

This recipe is quite nutritious. 1/6 serving has about 15g of protein, 325g potassium. It also contains 19% zinc (which I have a hard time getting in my diet), 14% iron, 122% b-12, 20% calcium (depending on the vegan milk you use), and is also a good source of folate, B-6, Riboflavin and Thiamin because of the nutritional yeast.

The Shiitake bacon:

I am now quite smitten! In fact, I think it is the closest us vegans have come to replicating the texture of actual bacon. I have adapted my recipe from Chloe Coscarelli…her recipe requires a pound of shiitake (which would cost me at least $10, probably more) and I can only seem to find 3.5 oz containers of sliced shiitake near me. It is so good though. And it is not even fried! I like it by itself, in her Carbonara recipe (http://chefchloe.com/entrees/pasta-carbonara-with-shiitake-bacon.html), and now in this quiche, which is the perfect place for it!

Ingredients:

• 3.5-4 oz sliced shiitake mushrooms
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ¼ tsp sea salt
• 1/8 tsp ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Place mushrooms in a ziplock bag. Add in the oil and salt and pepper.
3. Seal bag and shake until mushrooms are coated.
4. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes.
5. Flip over.
6. Bake for another 10 minutes.
7. Voila! They should be simultaneously crispy and chewy (the smaller, thinner pieces will be more crispy, and the thicker bigger pieces chewier)
8. Use for whatever reason or in the quiche recipe below.

Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Pie Crust

I am back to eating gluten free after majorly slipping up during the holidays. I have been using this packaged pie crust dry blend for awhile, and I have adapted the rest of the ingredients and directions more to my liking. I do love this product and it makes gluten free pies much easier but the method for using it could use some improvement. In the past when I followed their directions, I often found myself working with a very crumbly crust that was almost impossible to roll out and use without it cracking or worse. I have been thinking of ways to make it better and more like an actual pastry pie crust, and this seems to have worked.

Ingredients:

• A bag of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Pie Crust Dry Mix
• 12 tbsp Earth Balance Sticks (1.5 sticks total)
• 8 tbsp coconut oil
• 6 tbsp water

Directions:

1. Pour the dry mix into a food processor.
2. Cut up the Earth Balance into small pieces and place into the food processor. Do not process yet!
3. Place the coconut oil into the processor by each tablespoon at a time.
4. Process until a smooth somewhat cohesive mixture is formed.
5. Take out and place in a large bowl.
6. Sprinkle the water over it.
7. Use your hands to combine everything together and make it moldable.
8. Separate in half. If making the quiche, keep one half out and wrap the other in a disk shape in plastic wrap and keep in the freezer, defrosting before ready to use for another quiche or pie of some type later. If making a double crust pie instead, place the disk in the fridge for 30 minutes before using.

BEHOLD! THE QUICHE!!

Ingredients:

• ½ recipe Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Pie Crust as prepared above
• 1 lb firm tofu
• 1 tbsp Ener-g Egg Replacer (do not add water to it!)
• ½ cup nutritional yeast
• ¼ cup plain almond milk or another favorite vegan milk substitute
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• ¼ tsp Indian Black Salt (optional, it makes it have an eggier flavor. When searching for this, please note it is actually a pink color and not black) If you can’t find it, place ¼ tsp of your favorite salt instead
• ¼ tsp sea salt
• ½ Daiya cheddar shreds
• 1 3.5 oz batch of shiitake bacon as provided above

Directions:

1. Spread half the prepared pie crust into a deep dish pie pan with your fingers. Try your best to make it even across the pan and up the sides.
2. Let sit in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
4. Place pie crust with several fork stabs to the bottom in the oven for 10 minutes.
5. Prepare the filling by placing the tofu, egg replacer, nutritional yeast, and plain vegan milk in a food processor. Blend together until smooth.
6. Add the onion powder, turmeric, and black salt, and process until combined, scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula a few times to really incorporate everything.
7. Scoop out into a large bowl and fold in the Daiya cheese and shiitake bacon until they are evenly dispersed throughout.
8. Spread into the prepared pan with the pie crust in it.
9. Bake for 30 minutes.
10. Take out of the oven and allow to cool for a bit (10-15 minutes…although it is easier to cut when you wait longer) before digging in! Enjoy!