Swiss Chard And Spinach Quiche

Have you had your greens today? If not, you might want to revert this asap, as we all know too well how greens are crucial for better health.Let’s face it, it’s not always easy to get your daily green fix. Sometime it’s difficult to know what to do with them besides juicing, have them raw in a salad or just lightly steamed.
In order to give you one more option, today I’m gonna share what I believe to be one of the “greenest” quiche you can ever imagine. Made with lots of spinach and swiss chard. So much of it, that one slice will provides a full two servings of greens. What about that?



This quiche was meant to be vegan, but just as I was making it, I realized that I had no tofu left. I had to resort to Italian ricotta cheese instead. Which worked out perfectly.
This means that you’ll have the choice of whether make it 100% vegan or just 80% vegan (I don't think you can make something just partially vegan, but I like the sound of it).
Besides the green awesomeness, the raddest part of this quiche is the vegan crust: full of sesame seeds, oats and just a bit of olive oil. It’s truly amazing. Super tasty, delicious, and “dope”. Actually, the whole quiche is dope, not just the crust.
Hot, cold or lukewarm, no matter how you enjoy it, it’s just dope.



Swiss Chard and Spinach Quiche                                                                                       Print this Recipe!
Adapted from Peter Berley’s The Modern Vegetarian and 101Cookbooks

Ingredients
Yields 8 generous servings

Crust

½ cup / 1.6 oz / 45 grams oats
3 tbsp sesame seeds
1 cup / 4.5 oz / 125 gr whole wheat flour
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp fine grain sea salt
⅓ cup / 80 ml water
⅓ cup / 75 ml olive oil (plus 1 tbsp)
a pinch of black pepper

Filling

2 pounds / 1 kilo fresh spinach
1 pound / 500 grams fresh Swiss chard
1 medium onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 ½ tsp fine grain sea salt
1 tsp finely chopped thyme
pinch hot red pepper flakes
1 cup / 250 grams Italian ricotta cheese (or 1 block of tofu, rinsed and patted dry)
Paprika for dusting

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Place a rack in the middle.
To make the crust, place the oats, sesame seeds, whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade, and process until the oats are ground.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the water, and oil. Using a wooden spoon mix in the dry ingredients to form a dough.
Lightly grease a 10-inch tart pan with 1 tbsp of olive oil. Put the dough in the tart pan, and using your fingers and knuckles press down evenly, making sure to fill in the sides of the pan. Trim the tart of any excess dough, and refrigerate while you’re preparing the filling.
To make the filling, in a medium pan warm the 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the onion and the garlic, raise the heat to medium high, and saute' for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring until the onions start to get caramelized. Season with ½ tsp of salt, transfer to a medium bowl, and set aside.
While the onion mixture is cooking, remove and discard the tough stems of the spinach. Wash the leaves. Transfer the spinach to a pot and cook, covered, over high heat for 4 minutes, until just wilted. Drain in a colander, and rinse under cold water to arrest the cooking. Drain well and squeeze dry. Transfer to a cutting board, and chop fine.
Wash the swiss chard, and remove the white stems. Transfer the green leaves to a pot, add 2 inches of water and cook, covered, over medium to high heat for 5 to 6 minutes. Drain in a coriander, and rinse under cold water to arrest the cooking. Drain well and squeeze dry. Transfer to a cutting board, and chop fine.
Add the spinach and the swiss chard to the onion mixture along with the ricotta cheese*, thyme, red pepper flakes, the remaining 1 tsp of salt and stir well to combine.
Fill the tart shell with the greens mixture and smooth the top with the back of a spoon. Dust generously with paprika. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until firm.
Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

*Vegan note: if you’re using tofu instead of the ricotta cheese. Crumble the tofu in the bowl of the food processor. Add 1 tbsp of lemon juice and 1 tsp of salt and puree until smooth. With a rubber spatula, scrape the puree into the onion-greens mixture.

Nutrition facts

One serving yields 250 calories, 15 grams of fat,  18 grams of carbs and 13 grams of protein.