Quiches are the blank canvas of the breakfast world. There are so many ways to flavour them, depending on what is seasonally available and your taste. Here, we’ve kept it simple with spinach and some smoked gouda cheese. The crowning glory, though, is the simple pepper relish served on top of each slice. The bright acidity cuts through the richness of the quiche and will keep you coming back for bite after bite.
Upper crust
Not a fan of quinoa? Why not try a sweet potato crust in the quiche instead? Simply slice 1 large sweet potato into 1/8 in (0.3 cm) slices and line bottom and sides of greased pie plate. You may need to slice a few pieces in half to make it all fit. Lightly brush sweet potato slices with oil, and bake at 375 F (190 C) for 20 minutes before proceeding with the recipe.
Per serving:
Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C). Grease 9 in (23 cm) pie plate with a little grapeseed oil.
To medium saucepan, add quinoa along with water or broth. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until all the water has been absorbed, about 10 minutes. Fluff quinoa with fork and transfer to large bowl. You should have about 2 cups (500 mL) cooked quinoa. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes.
To bowl with cooled quinoa, add 1 egg and beat well with fork until well combined. Transfer quinoa mixture to prepared pie plate and evenly press into bottom and up the sides. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Press down crust with the back of a spoon to compact and avoid any leaks when pouring on the quiche filling. Set crust aside to cool for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 F (180 C).
While quinoa crust cools, make pepper relish. In medium bowl, stir together diced roasted red peppers, parsley, vinegar, red pepper flakes, and salt. Set aside to marinate, stirring occasionally, while making quiche filling.
In large frying pan, heat grapeseed oil over medium-high heat. Add green onions and sauté until tender, about 4 minutes. Add spinach and sauté until wilted and most of the excess liquid in the pan has evaporated, about another 2 minutes. Transfer spinach mixture to large bowl and add milk, cheese, nutmeg (if using), and remaining 3 eggs. Whisk until very well incorporated and pour into prepared crust. Bake until just set, about 35 minutes. Set aside to cool for 20 minutes.
When ready to serve, cut quiche into 6 wedges and transfer to serving plates. Spoon a dollop of pepper relish overtop and serve immediately.
Lime juice and ginger add a tropical whiff to this French-Japanese mashup, where seaweed tendrils and Dijon mustard bring out the umami flavours in mushrooms and eggplant. The ingredients might seem to be strange bedfellows, but they work. The result is somewhere between a quiche and a soufflé, with a gluten-free eggplant crust featuring punchy mustard and citrus. This makes for a hearty vegetarian main for brunch, lunch, or dinner with a side salad, or a filling side dish. Fresh or dried If you don’t have fresh thyme and parsley, use 1 tsp (5 mL) dried thyme (divided) and 1 Tbsp (15 mL) dried parsley. The flavours won’t be as pungent, but a little flavour is better than none.
These are the perfect two-bite appetizers. Though the first bite likely won’t “wow” you, the more you chew, the more the salt from the dulse soaks into the avocado and tomato. Wait for it. You can also turn these into breakfast à la avocado toast by substituting a piece of your favourite bread for a slice of baguette. What’s in a name? Theoretically, this should be called a “DLTA” because of the avocado (dulse, lettuce, tomato, and avocado). And if you left out the lettuce, you’d have a “DTA.” A DTA would arguably be a better overall eating experience, since lettuce slightly waters down the rich and creamy result and makes it harder to keep the tomatoes from sliding off the top of the crostini. But the juicy lettuce is actually helpful, since it spreads the salt from the dulse throughout the entire bite, making the “wow” moment come sooner. Besides, neither DLTA nor DTA is as fun an acronym as DLT.
This triple-threat recipe is made with (up to) three types of seaweed. Wakame is essential for the pesto, but kombu boosts the umami punch of sautéed garlic and cherry tomatoes, while kelp noodles are a low-carb substitute for flour-based noodles. Because kelp noodles can be hard to find (you’ll likely need to order them online), feel free to use your favourite boxed linguine, zucchini noodles, shirataki konjac, tofu, or yam noodles instead. You can also leave out the vongole (clams) to keep the recipe plant-based, or use mussels, which are usually more affordable than clams. Both clams and mussels are generally sustainable, as, like seaweed, they’re farmed without feed or antibiotics, unlike many farmed fish operations. Double-duty pesto Make a double batch of seaweed pesto, and enjoy it with eggs, scrambled tofu, or toast.
Spicy popcorn? You bet. This Japanese seven-spice blend combines salty and spicy notes for a healthy snack. If you don’t make your own togarashi, check the container before adding it to your popcorn to make sure it doesn’t contain salt. For an even simpler recipe, skip the togarashi and just grind a few pieces of nori and a pinch of salt in a blender or spice grinder to sprinkle on your popcorn instead. If you’re fresh out of nori, you can always grind wakame, arame, or dulse instead, leaving out the pinch of salt for dulse or any seaweed you taste and find already salty. Shichimi togarashi This customizable spice blend generally features sansho pepper, a.k.a. Japanese prickly ash, a green peppercorn with a citrusy taste, along with seaweed flakes, chili pepper, and dried citrus peel—often yuzu or mandarin orange. If you can’t find sansho, look for Sichuan peppercorn, which has a slightly stronger mouth-tingling effect. You can buy dried orange, mandarin, or tangerine peel. Or you can dehydrate your own, in which case you might as well dehydrate a 1/8 in (3 mm) thick piece of fresh ginger along with the peel. If you can’t handle a lot of chili pepper heat, reduce the pepper to your taste.