Tofu quiche

 

Long before I knew that tofu is made from soybeans, I received a recipe for a quiche using tofu. I made this again last night for dinner. Making dinner is a pretty rare experience for me, but I was on a roll, having made my world famous chocolate chip cookies earlier in the afternoon (see recipe on the back of Toll House semi sweet chocolates for your chance to make world famous cookies, too).

 

While I am not a fan of cooking, which is a huge understatement, I do love all of my Kitchenaid appliances. A few years ago, having learned that Kitchenaid is headquartered in Ohio, I made a point to visit their factory store. The brochure I had indicated that they are open on Sundays. Bob, Paulette, Ron and I were in the area to visit Paulie's granddaughter, Lauren, at Miami University. That's in Ohio, near Cincinnati, which is 5 hours from where we live in Sandusky. Kitchenaid is nearby, so, I asked if we could stop on our way home on Sunday. That particular Sunday they were closed to the public.I was SOOOOO disappointed! There did seem to be quite a bit of activity inside, though, and we wandered in amongst a crowd that had gathered at the entrance. We were soon spotted as interlopers. This was the annual factory sale for Kitchenaide employees....the ones that actually made the products in the nearby factory! The manager did agree that the brochure did not say there was a Sunday they were closed to the public and she graciously allowed us to shop..not at the extremely low prices afforded to the workers, but, at the low prices of the factory store. Oh boy!

 

Paulette helped me pick out an immersion blender. ( I had never heard of one before, and, I actually haven't used it yet.) I bought a food processor with all of the attachments in the retro green shade of my actual antique kitchen bowls-see photo above. I also bought a blender, having NEVER owned one and I have made a smoothie a few times. I bought a mini chopper, too. I already had a mixer, which I love, and use to make my cookies, but I bought every attachment they had. Did you know you can use the motor with an attachment to be a can opener, a meat grinder, and a juicer? Well, you can. Not that I have. I think you can use the motor to power a small fishing boat, but, I haven't tried it yet.

 

Paulette helped me rearrange all of the cupboard in my kitchen so that everything would be conveniently located for use, should I ever actually cook. The blender and food processor stand ready on the counter, as does the mixer. I dust these lovely retro green accessories often. But, I rarely use them, which brings me back to the tofu quiche. The last time I made the quiche, I didn't use any of the equipment. I decided to change it up and try them. Wow. What fun. The fp(food processor) shredded the two carrots. The blender really puree-ed (a technical cooking term, I know that because there is a button on the blender with that word on it) the tofu mixture. I considered beating the 3 eggs with the mixer, but, on a whim, I used the antique egg beater that my Great Aunt Alberta owned. I did toss the beaten eggs into the blender, tho. I even used the mini chopper for the onions. Actually, I tossed everything into the blender like a mad scientist at work.

 

I can honestly say that the quiche turned out better than ever before. Ron was my able assistant. He figured out how to make the fp work and chopped the spinach in it, then switched to the shredding attachment for the carrots...even as I kept  telling him to unplug the monster before putting his hands in the container. Yikes.

 

If you've read this far, you might want the recipe. Here it is:

Preheat oven to 350. Have a deep dish pie crust ready. Get some fresh spinach, mushrooms (any kind will do, I think) carrots, onions, and have 1/2 cup of each ready to go.Also 3T chopped celery. Over a low flame, cook the veggies in a pan until tender...with 2 T butter and 1 T white wine. Cool. (that is a cooking term, not an expression of enthusiasm) I set the pan on our back porch because it was freezing out,but if you live in California, you'll have to use your refrigerator.  Meanwhile, 1 hour earlier, drain 1 package of firm tofu. Oops, maybe I should have mentioned this first. When drained well, use a fork and mix in 2 and 1/2T of flour. Oh, before that, mix 1 t of salt into the flour.  Beat 3 eggs. Add 1 cup of half and half and 1 and 1/2 cup of shredded cheese and 1/3 t of celery salt. I used veggie cheese instead of real cheese. Toss everything into the blender and blend. You probably guess that part.   Pour mixture into the pie crust and bake for 1 hour or a bit less. Let the pie cool before serving. Voila! Let me know how it turns out!