Creamy, savoury, filling, and bursting with deliciousness, this gluten-free vegan asparagus and sun-dried tomato quiche is really easy to make, and perfect for al fresco dining now the warmer weather is upon us!
Did you know that asparagus used to be called 'sparrow grass', and was considered a peasant food?
So many of the high-end foods we now consume were once cheap staples for the masses; oysters, rocket, samphire, wholegrain bread... while today's staples (e.g. potatoes, cauliflower, white bread, sugar, pepper) were luxury items, and used less as essential sustenance but more as a means of demonstrating one's wealth to visitors.
Years ago, when I was living in Britain, amato mio and I built, grew, and maintained an early 17th century cottager's garden within the grounds of a local stately home.
Yep, I made my own reproduction 17th century clothing too! No, my hips and bum are not that big... it's a bum roll!
Holdenby House, built by Elizabeth I's Lord Chancellor, and one of the largest, grandest homes in England at the time, later became a residence of Charles I, and it was life during this period of history that we recreated. Or rather, the life of an average, common-or-garden peasant.
Yarp!
We had a replica cruck house, built by a regiment of the English Civil War society, and we grew not only food plants but also those used for dyeing and making medicines.
A simple sallet (salad) made with leaves, flowers, and wild plants.
Any huswife worth her salt in the early modern period would have to known how to grow and prepare food, plus also how to take care of her family's ailments, and how to dye their clothing in order to 'refresh' it. A peasant woman's petticote (outer skirt) and bodice would most likely have been turned at least once (taken apart, and re-made inside out), and dyed several times, each time darker and darker, in order to not show stains.
At Holdenby, along with growing stuff, we'd give public demonstrations of cooking, and making remedies and dyes. If people were very lucky, they might even see me going about my daily chores, 17th century-style. People would be fascinated to see me using an upright pole to wring out the laundry, which was then spread over lavender bushes to dry in the sun!
They were good times.
Newt Scamander!
This gluten-free vegan asparagus and sun-dried tomato quiche is not something my 17th century self would recognise - not least because unlike today, pie crusts (called 'coffins' back then) were merely containers in which you cooked the actual food (e.g. meat). Pastry was also used to seal the oven door. It wasn't for eating!
Ready to go into the oven!
Fresh out of the oven. Yum!
Fortunately, today we understand how delicious pie crust is, and I must admit that I do love a hearty pie. Making the crust for this quiche with buckwheat and teff flours gives it a great taste, and a lot of bite. It's a very filling crust, in my opinion, and more satisfying, I think, than one made with white flour.
The basis of the filling is firm silken tofu but if you can only get extra firm, it will work as well - you'll just need to blend it a little longer, and maybe add a little more cream. If you don't have non-dairy cream, you could use milk (non-dairy of course!) but will be a little less creamy-tasting. You could also use a tablespoon of cashew cream, which is something I often do but for this recipe, I wanted to keep it nut-free as well as gluten-free.
You can also use whichever veggies you like, as long as they're not too watery. I use the sun-dried tomatoes to ramp up the flavour, and to give a slightly sweet edge, but you could use fresh ones (de-seeded). Red, orange, and yellow peppers work too.
Or you could just leave them out all together, and have sparrow grass on its own.
Vegan Asparagus and Sun-Dried Tomato Quiche
Is...
- full of veggies
- filling
- satisfying
- savoury
- cheesy
- easy to make
- gluten-free
- dairy-free
- nut-free
- packed with protein and fibre
- nutritious (Vitamin A 64%, Vitamin C 26%, Calcium 13%, Iron 40% RDV)
- totally scrummy!
Serve it with some crisp green leaves, and my loaded potato salad, and make your tummy happy!
Have you ever had a vegan quiche? What's your favourite type? Tell me in the comments below!
Vegan Asparagus and Sun-Dried Tomato Quiche
Ingredients
Crust:
- 150 g 1 cup teff flour
- 125 g buckwheat flour
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 80 ml ⅓ cup olive oil
- 150 ml 1 cup + 2 tablespoon cold water
Filling:
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 large white onion finely chopped
- 4 large cloves garlic smashed
- 1 x 500g 1 lb bunch asparagus, trimmed
- 12 large sun-dried tomatoes in oil drained and sliced
- 350 g firm silken tofu
- 8 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes
- 2 tablespoon non-dairy cream note 2
- 1 tablespoon cornflour corn starch
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 2 teaspoon wholegrain mustard note 3
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 large fresh tomato thinly sliced
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 200C (390F).
- Oil and line a suitable oven dish (note 5)
Make the crust:
- Place the flours and salt into a large bowl, and mix together.
- Add the oil and the water, and using your hands, mix until you have a smooth, firm dough.
- Press the dough into the dish, making it as even as possible. (note 4)
- Bake in the centre of the oven for 15 minutes.
- Remove, and set aside.
Make the filling:
- While the crust is baking, sauté the onions in the oil over a medium heat, for around 5 mins, until translucent.
- Add the garlic, asparagus and sun-dried tomatoes, and continue to cook for another 3-5 mins, until the asparagus starts to become tender.
- Turn off the heat, and set aside.
- Blitz the rest of the ingredients - except the salt, pepper, fresh tomato, and decorative asparagus - in a blender or food processor until smooth.
- Add to the veggies, and mix well.
- Taste, and season with the salt and pepper.
- Pour the filling into the baked crust, and smooth the top.
- Arrange the slices of tomato, and the reserved asparagus over the top. Finish with a few grinds of black pepper.
- Bake in the centre of the oven for around 40 minutes, until the top is firm, and a toothpick when inserted, comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven, and set aside for 15-20 minutes to cool.
- Remove from the oven dish, slice, and serve.
Notes
- Keep a few spears back to decorate the top of the quiche.
- I prefer to use soy cream but have used rice too, and it works just as well.
- Or 1 teaspoon mustard powder.
- The dough is a bit too crumbly to roll out - it tends to break quite easily - so I find the best way to make the pie crust is to press it into the dish with my fingers.
- I use a 23cm (9") square Pyrex dish.
- 1 cup = US cup = 240 ml
- 1 tablespoon = US/UK = 15 ml
- 1 fl oz = US = 30 ml
I used my Optimum VAC2 Air Vacuum Blender for this recipe; if you want to try out this great blender for yourself (more information in my review), Froothie is offering yumsome readers an extra £20 discount, in addition to free shipping. Simply add the following code into the comments box when you check out, or if you order by 'phone, relay the code to the person taking your order. The discount will be refunded to your credit or debit card.In addition, Froothie offers a no-risk 30 day trial, plus a no-deposit, interest-free payment plan on every blender on the Froothie website. The VAC2 is often on special offer, with up to £200 off the usual price.
AMBASSADOR CODE 5252 + AMB20: £20 Discount
By the way, I get a small commission - at no extra cost to you - for every sale made using my affiliate code, so if you are thinking of buying something from the Froothie website, I'd really appreciate it if you use my link. Thanks so much! Affiliate sales and advertising, BTW, fund yumsome - without them, I wouldn't be able to provide you with free content.
Loyola
O.M.G what an amazing post. Amazing pictures and the cottage and the garden and and and.....could go on forever.
Your blog is so inspiring. I will try some of the recipes that I have been reading around your blog and probably will try dyeing too.
Nico
Thank you so much, Loyola - I really appreciate your kind words! Do let me know if there's anything I can help you with. xx
Corina Blum
I also love the sound of that pastry. I've got some teff flour and buckwheat flour in the cupboard so am very tempted to try it out. I definitely prefer pastries that are darker and more flavoursome than those made just with white flour. Thank you so much for sharing with #CookOnceEatTwice.
Nico
You might just be the only person I know who has a similar flour hoard in their pantry, Corina! I hope you love the quiche! xx
Katie Bryson
A quiche without eggs is quite a revelation... this looks super good and perfect for any vegans we're cooking for this summer! Thanks so much for joining in with Simple and in Season.
Nico
I hope your vegan friends love it as much as we do, Katie! xx
Anyonita
What a fantastic time! And that quiche looms absolutely amazing!! 🙂 Pinned!
Nico
Thanks, Anyonita - I'm so happy you like it! Thank you for sharing it! xx
Jacqueline Meldrum
That looks really good and love all the photos in the post. I've visited somewhere similar and it was really interesting. Sharing this quiche. YUM!
Nico
I am a big fan of experimental history places and open air ethnographic museums - I love them! Have you been to St. Fagin's near Cardiff? It's one of my favourite places ever. So fab - and so easy to spend an entire day there! xx
Midge @Peachicks' Bakery
Beautiful! I keep meaning to make an eggfree quiche for the Peachicks, def saving this one for a bit of soyfree tinkering! Thanks for sharing!
Nico
Oh, do let me know how you get on with it, Midge! xx
Vanessa @ VeganFamilyRecipes
This looks wonderful and I absolutely love the pictures of the garden. That cottage is beyond adorable! Wish I could visit it1
Nico
Thank you, Vanessa - the cottage and garden are fab, aren't they?!
(And the quiche is pretty rad too! LOL!) xx
Mari
Oh my. OH MY! What a sight! What an experience it must have been!? What a feeling? What, what! 😉 My English is not working for me as much as I would like to show how great this all looks and sounds and when I try to imagine... Nico my dear, where you haven't been and didn't cooked? On the Moon, I guess, but who could be sure? Haha! Please don't mind me babbeling now but this is sincere comment and that's what counts the most I guess 😉
Apart from growing your own food and enjoying it but recreating "old ways and customs" must have really felt great! I love the little house, great little neat garden that was! I'll also have to ask you more about colouring fabrics too. I tried something with Darjeeling and Pu Erh but got only kitchen cloths in really unappealing khaki result... and you know what kaka would mean in Croatian, hehe, and it was just like that.
And last but not the least, the great dish you made. Coffin they called the crust, heh? Haha! I'm glad that name got lost a bit during the centuries... hahaha, imagine, "What's for dessert today? Blueberry jam coffin?" Oh, my! 😀
I love the story, I love the pics, I love the Quiche, I just love to read you, Nico, hahaha, "Have I told you lately that I love you?" 😀
Btw. You DON'T look centuries old. You look like a pretty savvy huswife worth her salt!
Nico
Ha ha ha, Mari, I love your comments - you are so much fun!
Here's a link to some of my dyed wool (this is where you discover that there were times in experimental history where being vegan had to take a back seat for the sake of authenticity - i.e. using wool and cochineal!)...
http://ow.ly/yCau30cmqYk
Probably the reason your dyeing went a little kaka (ha ha!) was because of the type of water you used (if there's a lot of iron in the water, it will make colours dark and dull), the type of pan you used (same again - if using cast iron, the colours will be 'saddened' - yes, that's the technical term!), and the mordant you used. If you look at the first photo in the album I linked to above, the wool dyed with logwood has a range of colours, due to different mordants and types of water.
I could talk about dyeing all day! LOL! xx
Monika
This quiche sounds amazing! No, I've never made a vegan quiche so I read your recipe with interest, I've never used teff flour either! Your post and pictures are very interesting, too. There is so much more to Yumsome than recipes! Thank you for bringing this post to #CookBlogShare:)
Nico
Awww, thank you, Monika - I'm so glad you enjoy my posts. I hope you try the quiche - it's well-worth making! xx
Strength and Sunshine
Haha, how fun is that! The good ole times, eh? 😉
I am loving the crust of this quiche though! Teff and buckwheat are the best!
Nico
Absolutely, Rebecca - superfun times! Ha ha!
I was a little apprehensive at first about mixing both flours but the results are great, and it's a combo I've used in other tarts since. I think that if someone is used to light and flaky white pie crust, they may find this one a bit heavy at first but I really like how substantial and flavoursome it is. 🙂 xx