Wild Mushroom and Spinach Quiche

Follow the steps one at a time and these are  not difficult to make. PATIENCE is an asset here, however, because they do require quite a bit of dehydration time. My little beauties are still dehydrating...so I'll let you know when they are done...

My tart trays were smaller than suggested, so I had a lot of leftover filling, even after making a double batch of crust. I filled the shells a little higher than traditional quiche because I needed to squeeze as much yummy goodness into a shell possible. A quiche is normally flat on top.

Wild Mushroom and Spinach Quiche

Published by Russell James in 'News From the Kitchen' eZine, Issue #6*

Makes 4 small quiche
Crusts will need to be made ahead of time.

*"Tart cases should be about 11cm wide and no than about 1cm high, to allow the mixture to dehydrate inside."

Crust
1 cup cashews
1/4 cup macadamia nuts
2 Tbsp ground flax seed 1 clove crushed garlic
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
2 tsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
3 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp lemon juice

Grind all ingredients in a food processor until thoroughly mixed, leaving some texture to the nuts.

Press into plastic film lined individual tart cases so you have a thin crust. Dip fingers in bowl of water to eliminate sticking.

Place crusts in dehydrator on a mesh dehydrator sheet at 115 degrees for 2 hours. They should be firm enough to remove from tart cases.  Dehydrate 6 more hours.

Filling
2 cups wild mushrooms (or substitute for any type of available mushroom)
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp lemon juice

Wash and roughly chop the mushrooms. Marinate in salt and lemon juice and set aside.

 -----
2 cups zucchini
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cup cashews
1/4 c white miso
2t lemon juice
1/2 medium white onion
3T nutritional yeast (optional)
1T powdered psyllium husk (optional)  (I did not use)
1/2t salt

Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender until smooth.

 -----
2 cups tightly-packed spinach
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt

Pulse spinach, olive oil and salt in a food processor for 10 to 20 seconds until broken down.

Drain the mushrooms and transfer to a large bowl, along with the blended zucchini mixture, and spinach. Add the following ingredients and mix by hand:

1/4 cup finely sliced spring onions
1 cup diced tomatoes
1 Tbsp minced basil

Pour this mixture into the crusts. You'll need to slightly overfill the bases as the filling reduces in the dehydrator.

Dehydrate up to 24 hours.

Remove from the dehydrator and decorate with slices of tomato and fresh basil sprigs. Brush the top of the quiche with a small amount of olive oil, to make them more appealing in their appearance.

NOTE: This was soo yummy..def a little heavy on the nuts dinner, and not something I eat regularly..however..I made them as mini quiches (only about 2" in diameter), ate 2 of them, and added a nice salad for a complete meal. Stuffing the remaining filling into an orange bell pepper that was dehydrated for about an hour was fabulous too!

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