Spinach and Wild Mushroom Quiche

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This savory spinach and wild mushroom quiche is an amazing creation of Chef Russel James, the master of raw gourmet. It is richly dense with flavor, and is made completely free of dairy, eggs, or anything processed for that matter and actually tastes worlds better than anything cooked. Believe us! While this recipe does take a bit of time to prepare (the base crust should be made ahead of time) it is well worth the effort as the outcome will amaze you.

Ingredients

For the Base

• 1 cup cashew
• 1/4 cup macadamia nuts
• 2 tablespoons flax meal (ground flax seed)
• 1 clove crushed garlic
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

For the Filling

Part 1:

• 2 cup wild mushrooms (or substitute for any type of available mushroom)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Part 2:

• 2 cups courgettes (zucchini)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups cashews
• 1/4 cup white miso
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1/2 medium white onion
• 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Part 3:

• 2 cups tightly-packed spinach
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Part 4:

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

Instructions

For the Base

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

2. Press into plastic film lined individual tart cases *so you have a thin crust. You will find that regularly dipping your fingers in a bowl of water helps with this.

3. Place bases onto a mesh dehydrator sheet and dehydrate at 115 degrees F for 2 hours. They should now be firm enough to remove from the tart cases so you can continue to dehydrate them for a further 6 hours.

4. Tart cases should be approx 11cm wide and no than about 1cm high, to allow the mixture (details to follow) to dehydrate inside.

For the Filling

Part 1:

— Wash and roughly chop the mushrooms, then marinate them in the salt and lemon juice and set aside.Part 2:— Blend zucchini, cashews, miso, white onion, nutritional yeast and water in a high speed blender until smooth.

Part 3:

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

Part 4:

— Drain the mushrooms from earlier and transfer them to a large bowl, along with the blended courgette (zucchini) mixture, and spinach. Then also mix in spring onions, diced tomatoes, and minced basil

Assembly of Quiche:

— Once thoroughly mixed, pour this mixture into the bases. You’ll need to slightly overfill the bases as the filling will reduce slightly in the dehydrator.

— Dehydrate overnight and during the day, for anything up to 24 hours.

— Remove from the dehydrator and decorate with slices of tomato and fresh basil sprigs. It’s also a good idea to brush the top of the quiche with a small amount of olive oil, to make them more appealing in their appearance.