Vegan Unicorn.

As my web design class barrels towards their final exam, I introduced them to URLs, Hosting, and SEO (oh my) on Monday.  I find that the use of my own hosting accounts and web stats makes much more of an impression on them than a general discussion of hits, page views, and referrers.  Scrolling down the list of various stats offered, I pointed out what posts brought the most visitors to my site.  Much as I wish people landed here in search of insightful views on current trends in education, innovative uses of social media for business, or even random musings about knitting, it’s the vegan recipes that initially entice and inspire return visits.

Which is quite alright with me since I’ve been vegan for 2 1/2 years and love nothing more than to spend an evening in my kitchen attempting to recreate favorite recipes vegan style then document them for my readers.  Ok, you got me, I first started posting them so that I wouldn’t forget how I made that amazing rice and beans with soy chorizo or simply delicious veggie pizza.  Also, as I confessed to @RobinUlrich, some weeks are just so busy all I have time to post is a recipe.  However, one dish always eluded me no matter how hard I tried various combinations of compassionate ingredients.

Quiche became my vegan unicorn, a mythical savory meal that appears only in the kitchen of my fantasies.  Until now.

Last month, a former student sent me a link to the Finding Vegan website.  I startled some of my ecommerce students recently with the phrase “food porn” in reference to websites like this one, and if you too get lost for hours on gorgeous recipe websites, this one is for you.  Hesitant to search for the unicorn only to find an ephemeral whisp of tofu and rosemary, I searched the site for quiche and found one recipe.  Reading through the ingredients, I was underwhelmed until I hit upon an unusual entry: sweet white miso.

I love miso and thought this might add some much needed flavor to the tofu base.  I continued searching around the internet for various vegan quiche options and found another that added almond milk to the tofu.  As luck would have it, I had tofu and almond milk in my fridge that day.  I decided to go with spinach, carrots, leeks and mushrooms because I also had those on hand.  What I didn’t have was sweet white miso.

Enter a current student.  At the local health food store, I picked up a package of said miso, looked at the price and had a slight heart attack.  No, I wasn’t paying $9.29 for a tub of miso to use a tablespoon or two, so I asked my student if she knew of any other miso options in the store.  She took me to the soup aisle.  At first I thought, no, this is no substitute for miso paste but then spied a dried miso soup packet.  Looking at the ingredients it was just soy and spices like the paste and cost $1.39.  I figured I’d add it to the almond milk before I added it to the tofu…

…. and thus I found the unicorn.

Vegan Unicorn (aka Compassionate Quiche)

EVOO
2 medium leeks sliced
2 large carrots diced
1 package sliced baby portobello mushrooms (approx. 8 ounces)
2+ cups spinach leaves (approximate – I like spinach)
1 and 1/2 packages extra firm tofu
1/4 cup almond milk
1 package dried miso soup mix
Italian seasoning (or basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, sage, and marjoram – I cheat & buy them together)
salt and pepper
teaspoon garlic powder
1 frozen pie crust (I use Pilsbury which is oddly vegan)

Preheat your oven to 375.  Pour a glass of white wine for the cook.

Press the tofu between paper towels to get as much water out as possible.  I put the tofu between towels then in my colander under a plate and a big coffee mug while I prep all the vegetables.

Prep those veggies and take another sip of wine.  Black Box Chardonnay pairs well with this if you are a member of the 99%.

Get out a big saute pan and add some EVOO.  Saute mushrooms until they start softening then add carrots and leeks, sprinkle with Italian seasoning (I probably put a tablespoon in but go by how much flavor you like) and saute for about 5 minutes or until onions and mushrooms are soft.  Add spinach in batches until wilted.  If pan gets dry, add a little water.

Grab that tofu and crumble in a large bowl.  Add miso soup mix and almond milk.  I used my miracle appliance, an immersion blender, to mix it all together.  The final mixture should not be liquid; it should be smooth, kind of the stiffness of whipped egg whites (but thicker).

You probably need to refresh your glass. Do this.

Slowly mix the veggies into the tofu mixture.  Get out your frozen pie crust and pour final mixture into the pie crust.  Place quiche in oven for 50 minutes and check doneness.  My oven needed an hour to cook this, but I wanted to ensure it wasn’t mushy.

Let the unicorn rest for 30 minutes.  Trust me, you don’t want to slice into it beforehand.  Finish your glass of wine, discover that the new season of Next Iron Chef started and you had no idea, deal with the ever present laundry, text your child, then settle in for the BEST VEGAN QUICHE EVER!