February 1, 2010

spinach pie: a failure!

spinach pie

I never cared for quiche, but unfortunately, renaming the dish "spinach pie" wasn't enough to save it from the overpowering blandness of underadorned tofu and the underwhelming blandness of the few spices that were present. Over the course of perhaps 90 minutes I was able to eat a modest slice -- it wasn't disgusting, but it wasn't good either. I kept reminding myself that it had a ton of nutrients and protein, not to mention that I was too lazy to cook something else in its place.

Before I put the quiche spinach pie into the oven, I tasted the filling a few times, attempting to adjust the seasonings but not quite getting it to my liking. Finally I put it in the oven, hoping that the flavors would be altered for the better by the cooking process. And I think it did taste better after being cooked. But I would still classify this as a failure.

I'm not going to post the instructions, just in case someone stumbles upon this recipe and decides to make it without reading my ample caveats. I'll just post the ingredients, so you know what not to do if you attempt to make a quiche with okara yourself. Because regardless of the fact that this particular quiche did not turn out well, I think that okara would lend itself quite nicely to a quiche. It's a good idea, at least.

I'm not sure the garbanzo flour was a great idea. I'm also not sure the corn starch was necessary. I think the biggest problem was that I used regular tofu, when most tofu-based quiche recipes I see call for silken tofu. I thought the instantly recognizable tofu taste would be overwhelmed by all the other ingredients, but I was wrong. When I bite into this, I feel like I'm eating plain tofu with perhaps the lightest application of other flavors. It was not a pleasant gustatory experience!

Without further ado, the ingredients:
2 Tablespoons olive oil
one small yellow onion, minced
2 scallions, minced
5 oz. spinach, coarsely chopped
19 oz. firm regular tofu
1/4 cup garbanzo flour
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
3/4 cup okara
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. turmeric
few grinds black pepper
2 Tablespoons corn starch
1 cup steamed broccoli florets, cut into small pieces
unbaked 9-inch pie shell

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