Spinach Mushroom Tofu Tart

I recently began buying my produce from someone new. For several years I received a 10-kilo weekly box from Recapte, a company based in Lérida. I was happy with it, but the truth is that their selection of produce, albeit seasonal, was a bit limited. And after so many years, one can eat only so many kilos of chard or cauliflower in a given month.
In recent years more and more local farmers or small companies have started offering a similar service of sending organic seasonal produce to your doorstep, so I tried a few of them until I found the one I have now, which I love. Xavi Soler runs Masía Soler, a family-based farm or "masía" (Catalan word for a relatively small estate of land). They not only offer seasonal produce but also other products such as olives and olive oil, eggs, organic chicken and pork, homemade preserves like jams or tomatoes, and even their own wine and Serrano ham. They deliver to the city 4 days a week and you can choose exactly how many kilos of each product you want.
Today Xavi brought, among other things, some beautiful fresh spinach, two gigantic leeks, and a big bag of mushrooms. The perfect combination for a savory tart, I thought. Unfortunately, I had no quiche pastry at home, nor the time or ingredients to make my own. But I remembered one of my favorite Montse Bradford recipes (which is on a previous post), a pastryless "quiche" that binds the ingredients together with tofu blended (with miso for flavor) till it's creamy. I did have plenty of tofu at home so I decided to play it by ear, based off of Montse's idea. The result was, lo and behold, a soft, moist, pastryless quiche.
I served it with a millet-amaranth "risotto".




Spinach Mushroom Tofu Tart Recipe
Ingredients: 500 gr. fresh spinach 1 large leek, white and green parts 500gr. mushrooms 1 package plain tofu 2 tablespoons white miso 2 tablespoons olive oil
First prepare all your ingredients: Wash the spinach carefully and dry in a vegetable spinner. Remove any coarse stems. Chop the leek. Trim the tails off the mushrooms, wash and dry with a tea towel. Heat some olive oil in a large wok. Insert the leek with a pinch of salt and sauté for 5 minutes. Then add the mushrooms and keep stirring until they have released all of their water. Add the spinach and stir until the leaves are wilted. Take off heat.
Blend the tofu together with the miso, olive oil, and a few tablespoons boiling water, until you achieve a creamy consistency. Mix in with the vegetables, making sure it all blends well.
Put the creamy mix in a prepared oven pan. Bake at 180º for 40 minutes or until the tofu starts to get golden brown.
This can be eaten warm or at room temperature, and it's even better the following day, when the flavors have settled.

Aromatic Tomato Eggplant Tart

This savory summer tart combines different recipes I have been repeating at home lately: one is Clotilde's Easy Olive Oil Tart Crust from Chocolate & Zucchini, and the other is a perfumed tomato spread from a cookbook I bought used recently and got hooked from start to finish as if it were a novel: The Unplugged Kitchen by Viana Laplace (out of print but easy to find used online). It is made with lots of cilantro and garlic: your kitchen (and maybe even whole house) will smell amazing as it bakes and for a while after.

Aromatic Tomato Eggplant Tart Recipe
Ingredients:
For the crust:
250 g whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 teaspoon dried herbs (I used thyme in this one)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup cold water

For the filling:
6 tomatoes (organic, please), peeled, chopped and drained in a colander
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 generous handful coriander (cilantro), chopped
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 small (or 1 large) eggplants, sliced into thin slices
1 handful dried mushrooms, rehydrated in boiling water
1 tablespoon pine nuts, lightly toasted

Directions:
Combine flour, salt, and herbs in a bowl. Add oil and mix with a fork. Add water, knead a bit in the bowl until you have a ball of dough and put it onto a floured surface to roll out to a crust large enough to fit into a pre-oiled round tart pan. Let rest in the fridge for an hour.

Heat the olive oil in a deep sautée pan or wok. Add the garlic and chopped cilantro. Mix for a few minutes. Then add the tomatoes and salt, and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes, until there is barely any liquid left. Add the slices of eggplant. Sautée for another 10 minutes or so, until the eggplant seems tender. Add rehydrated mushrooms. Carefully pour mixture onto the crust and distribute evenly. Sprinkle pine nuts on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature (tastes great the next day).

Swiss Chard Olive Quiche

Quiche and savory tarts are my all-time favorite food. They're so versatile, you can pour almost anything into a good crust and chances are it won't fail. I love the contrast between a crispy crust and a moist, chewy filling. However, my quiches need to be homemade. No matter where I go, whenever there's quiche on the menu, I'm always tempted to try it, but have been again and again disappointed when the quiche I am brought is too thick and overdosed in eggs and cream (I never use cream in my tarts, and when necessary only one egg). I like tarts that are thin, and I want to taste the veggies!
Quiches are delicious warm just out of the oven, but perhaps even better cold the next day, once all the flavors have settled. Since the picnic season has started (my year is divided into picnic and non-picnic seasons), I have been making lots of them; they are a picnic-perfect meal.
A household favorite is spinach quiche, but for seasonal reasons, this time I had to go with swiss chard. Because I find spinach more flavorful than chard, I lined the crust with some black olive paste, to give it an extra punch.
Many people boil the greens before putting them into the tart, don't do this! It's unnecessary and adds too much water to them. Just a skillet is fine, even for the chard, just make sure you chop the stems finely.
Usually I'm too lazy to make a homemade crust, but this time I tried a recipe from a recent post by Clotilde at chocolate & zucchini. It was really easy to make, and truly delicious. I especially liked the idea of putting dried herbs into the crust mix. I used some rosemary and thyme I still had left over from a recent trip to my friends Ari and Diego's garden in Montserrat. When the tart was in the oven it gave of a delicious aroma of the herbs. I think I may never buy ready-made crusts again.
On a recent trip to New York I bought this great gadget for tarts called "first slice" at Williams Sonoma. Whenever I remember to put it in under the crust before baking, I am very thankful for that first slice that doesn't break.

Swiss Chard Olive Tart Recipe
Ingredients:
1 tart crust (homemade or prepared)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 bunch fresh Swiss Chard, chopped
a pinch fine grain sea salt
2 green onions, finely chopped
2 teaspoons black olive paste
1 tablespoon pine nuts, toasted
1 egg
almond powder (or grated Parmesan, for non-vegans)

Directions:
Preheat oven.
Line a round tart pan with the crust and prick it with a fork so it won't rise in the oven. Bake on its own for about 10 minutes, just before it starts to turn golden. Remove from oven.
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the chopped onions and sea salt, and sauté a few minutes, until the onions become translucent. Add the chopped Swiss Chard and sauté for another 10 minutes or so. Remove from heat. Beat in the egg.
Paint the base of the crust with the black olive paste. Spoon the vegetables into the crust. Top with some powdered almond (or grated parmesan, if desired). If you have leftover crust, decorate the top with strips or whatever shape you wish.
Bake for about 25 minutes. Let it cool down before serving.