It’s Time For Brunch. Bring On The Vegan Quiche!
VEGAN QUICHE, THE PERFECT DISH FOR BRUNCH
Vegans love QUICHE! And you can, too, when you make it egg-free and full of delicious flavors, colors, and textures. Let’s make a vegan quiche with Chef Linda, culinary author, and Director Culinary Arts, Compassionate Cuisine from Catskill Animal Sanctuary. Learn how to make a savory, scrumptious quiche, perfect for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner, and customizable no matter what season it is!
PERFECTION IN THE KITCHEN
Linda Soper-Kolton came to Catskill Animal Sanctuary in 2012 as a guest chef, intending to teach Compassionate Cuisine cooking classes for a season and then return to her vegetarian and vegan café in Fairfield, Connecticut. Lured by the magic of the sanctuary and the urgency of the mission, Linda stayed to lead and grow the culinary program, inspiring and educating with love, patience, and delicious food. Six years later, she continues to cook, teach, write, and kiss pigs.
Unlike many chefs, Linda did not grow up at the knee of a family matriarch in the kitchen. Instead, her early memories of mealtime included mashed potatoes made with milk powder and potato flakes, Friday’s clean-out-the-fridge “spaghetti surprise,” and a lot of liver. Linda learned to cook out of sheer necessity. In the humble kitchen of her first apartment, Linda spent nights baking, roasting, and simmering for roommates, co-workers, and anyone else she could find. With “food is love” as her mantra, cooking and feeding became her way of nurturing and connecting with others.
In midlife, she fulfilled a lifelong dream of becoming a chef when she graduated from the Natural Gourmet Institute chef’s training program. Combining her chef’s training with certification as a holistic health coach from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and certification in plant-based nutrition from the Center for Nutrition Studies and eCornell, Linda is driven to love and influence others through compassionate, plant-based eating. When she’s not in the kitchen creating, she’s probably looking for her glasses.
READY TO MAKE THIS INCREDIBLE VEGAN QUICHE?
Quiche has endured since the ‘70s because of its great taste, festive appearance (what’s not to love about a savory breakfast in a pie shell?), and its chameleon-like ability to adapt to a variety of delicious seasonings. Better yet, it can easily be made vegan by substituting tofu and cashews for the eggs typically used in this dish, without losing any of the familiar texture. While cashews add a nice added creaminess, you could leave them out for a nut-free version. This Spinach, Mushroom, and “Sausage” Quiche is full of spinach, garlicky mushrooms, and vegan sausage, though you could easily omit the sausage in favor of more mushrooms. For an easy vegan frittata, skip the pie crust and spread the filling in an oiled 8-inch square baking dish, and bake until firm. It’s amazing to know that we don’t need eggs to create a quiche that will please all kinds of eaters!
Compassionate Cuisine’s Vegan Quiche with Spinach, Mushroom, and Sausage
Ingredients
- One unbaked vegan pie crust fitted into a 9-inch pie plate
- For the custard:
- ½ cup raw unsalted cashews soaked in water for about 30 minutes, drained
- 1 pound medium-firm tofu drained and rinsed
- 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon Dijon or yellow mustard
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon black salt Kala Namak, or use ¾ teaspoon regular salt
- For the vegetables:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 large shallots or 1 small onion finely chopped
- 8 ounces white or brown button mushrooms roughly chopped
- 3 large garlic cloves minced or grated
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and water squeezed out
- 2 vegan sausages any flavor, crumbled or chopped into quarter moons (if using small breakfast sausages, you’ll need 6 or 8)
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Use a fork to prick the unbaked pie crust several times (both on the bottom and the sides), then place on a baking tray and put into the oven. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the crust is partially baked and just starting to brown. Remove from the oven and set aside until needed. If it has puffed up, gently press it down.
- Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat, then add the oil. When hot, add in the shallots, mushrooms, and garlic and cook for about 8 minutes, until the mushrooms have released their liquid and are softened. Stir in the spinach, sausage, thyme, and pepper. Cook until heated through. Remove from the heat.
- Meanwhile, make the custard. Combine the cashews, tofu, nutritional yeast, mustard, turmeric, cornstarch, and salt in the bowl of a food processor, and process until as smooth as possible. Set aside while you prepare the sautéed vegetables.
- Transfer the custard into the pan and gently mix until everything is well-incorporated. Use a spatula to scoop the mixture into the pie shell, smoothing the top with the back of a spoon or spatula. Place the quiche on a baking tray and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the filling springs back when touched. Remove from the oven, allow to cool for 10 minutes, then slice and serve.
VEGAN QUICHE ENJOYED BY ALL
You don’t have to miss out on the long-standing favorite dish known as quiche just cause you are vegan. There are many ways to make and enjoy this dish without using eggs, and Linda gave a great and simple example of how to make a quiche with all the flavors and textures you’d expect in a quiche, but no cruelty. Give the recipe a try and take a photo of your final product and tag @JaneUnChainedNews on Instagram. Leave a comment here and let us know how you liked it. If you re looking for other plant-based recipes to try be sure to visit the #LunchBreakLIVE page where we have a ton to choose from. Until next time…keep cookin’!
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