Tofu Quiche with Hashbrown Crust

A week or so ago I stopped into the grocery store to pick up a few things we needed. An employee stopped me and asked if I was going to spend $7.50. Glancing at my list, I said "Yes, probably" and she replied with "Want some free potatoes??" and extended a five pound bag and a bright yellow coupon in my direction. "Uhh.. ok.." I replied and took the potatoes. I don't normally buy potatoes in that quantity simply because I know we won't eat them all before they get eyes, and in my house, for whatever reason, tubers sprout like crazy almost instantly. But you can't wave a free vegetable in front a vegetarian and have them say no, so since then I've been trying to figure out healthy ways of incorporating them into our dinners before they go to waste. This is even more challenging because I loathe baked, boiled, or mashed potatoes, and potato salad. I really only like them roasted or fried, and I don't mind them too much in soup. This weekend on the Food Network, Paula Dean made a quiche with a hashbrown crust and I thought that might be a good use of some of the potatoes! Of course she used butter, and eggs, and cheese... and frozen hash browns... but conceptually I was in. This isn't necessarily the most photogenic bit of dinner, but it really was yummy! As a bonus, it used up some random veggie bits from my fridge, and some of the taters!


Tofu Quiche with Hash Brown Crust

For the crust:
3 cups grated potatoes
2 tbsp margarine
2 tbsp olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

2. Spray your pie pan with nonstick cooking spray

3. Grate the potatoes and toss with the oil and margarine to coat. Press the potatoes in the bottom and up the sides of a 9 inch pie plate and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the potatoes are getting golden brown.

For the filling:
1 (1 lbs?) box of silken tofu (I used Nasoya)
1 cup plain rice milk
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp dijon mustard
2 cups broccoli, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tbsp oil
1 cup soy mozzarella
salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat and sautee the broccoli, bell pepper, and sautee until fork tender.

2. Meanwhile, blend together the tofu, milk, turmeric, nutritional yeast, mustard, and salt and pepper.

3. When the Hash Brown Crust is finished baking, put the veggies in the bottom of the crust. Top with the cheeze, then pour the tofu mixture evenly over the top.

4. Bake the quiche in a 375 degree oven for about 45 minutes until the tofu is set and starting to brown. It will still be a little jiggly coming out of the oven. Allow to cool at least 10 minutes before cutting.

Of course you can change up the veggies and cheeze and seasoning as desired. Onions or mushrooms would probably be nice in it.

Hash Brown Crust!

Perhaps not the prettiest dinner, but it was really delicious and bizarrely egg-like!