My Life in a Pyramid

Collard Greens Quiche with Grain-Free Crust

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Something about collard greens just sounds homey … maybe that’s because I associate it with the South? Apparently, the southern tradition of eating collard greens every New Year’s Eve goes something like this: each bite of greens you eat is worth $1,000 in the upcoming year (Little Rock). You know what this means? I was very poor in “collard green dollars” for many years, because I never had collard greens growing up. My family is of Middle Eastern origin, so we cooked a lot of spinach, molokhia (a favorite in my household to this day), cabbage, Swiss chard, and many other leafy greens that I’m probably forgetting … but never collards. Actually, we only adopted kale into our fridge only a few years ago — because we couldn’t figure out how to tame the curly leaves without wilting them into unappetizing mush. So we now eat kale mostly raw, usually in salads with toasted almonds and dried fruit. We tried doing the same with collard greens, but the taste of the greens wasn’t particularly distinct in salad, so I decided to find another way to make them. First, I was doing a vegan fast for Lent, so I was limited to beans and veggies. I came up with this tasty combination of black eyed peas, sauteed mushrooms, and collard greens stewed in a spiced tomato-garlic sauce, which was pretty good.

After Easter, I can’t bear to do anything vegan and almost find excuses to add ghee to everything and anything, so I had to find another recipe to use up the organic collard greens I found on sale at my local health food store. Sauteed greens are always a nice and simple choice for a side, but I wanted to make the collards shine. I wanted to elicit the reaction of: “ooh, this is great … what kind of greens are in here?” Yeah, yeah, I know the drill: add bacon. I am a lover of pastured bacon like no other, but I thought that the collard greens-bacon combination is a little tired (p.s. I also didn’t have bacon in the house .. hah). So, I decided on making a collard greens quiche! And not any regular ‘ol glutenous pie, mind you. I’m on a record gluten-free streak that I’m not planning to break anytime soon, so it had to be a grain-free quiche crust for me.

Don’t want to eat your greens? Consider quiche!

Let me tell you a little thing about gluten-free baking: I don’t like to do it. The results are (almost) always unpredictable and I don’t have the patience to find obscure ingredients like xanthan gum (what the heck is that anyway?). I decided to use my first successful grain-free petit fours experience as a reference, and quickly came to the conclusion that almond flour was going to be the main ingredient in the pie crust. It’s as easy as mixing the almond flour, fat (I used ghee), an egg, a pinch of salt and nutmeg, and pulsing in a food processor until all are well incorporated and a dough has formed. Then, you can press it down into a baking dish and pop in the oven for 10 minutes or so. Super easy.

For the filling, I thought I’d half-cook the collard greens to soften them up a bit, and to mix in the flavors of caramelized onions and garlic, before baking. Nothing says savory quiche like ricotta cheese, so a layer of that just ‘makes sense’ to go on top of the crust (I wish I had that on hand when making this!). Then, the lightly spiced greens, mixed in with an egg for binding purposes, goes on top, and then some shredded hard cheese is crumbled on top for a quiche effect. Pop in the oven for another 10 minutes or so, and you have a grain-free quiche that uses up an obscure leafy green vegetable and makes it tasty too! Let me tell you something: last time I just sauteed collards as a side, I didn’t get the same reaction from family members as when I served it in a quiche. Something about the French-inspired savory pie just attracts even the most staunch greens-hater out there. Try it!

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A little bit about collard greens …

Collards are a member of the Brassica family of leafy greens, which include a wide variety of edible plants that are super-good-for-you like cabbage, broccoli, mustard greens and kale. They’re native to the South (in the U.S.) and apparently taste better when they’re harvested after a bit of a chilly winter and spring: “Even though collard greens are more heat tolerant than other cabbage relatives, the vegetable tastes better after chilly weather arrives. A bit of frost makes the leaves taste sweeter” (Vegetable Gardening). So that means their peak season is between January and April for most places in the US.

According to this article from Serious Eats, picking collards comes down to selecting the greenest and sturdiest of the bunch: “avoid yellow, torn, and pitted leaves and opt for crisp, plump, deep green bunches. Due to a high water content, collards shrink down when cooked, so plan on two large bunches to serve four people.” If organically grown, you need only rinse them under running water to take off any clinging dirt. And to cook them, just chop and saute. Why eat them in the first place? Well, they’re yummy when paired with enough healthy fat. They also pair really well with beans, meats or dairy. And they’re really healthy, boasting a good amount of Vitamins K, C and A, folate, and minerals like calcium and zinc. So, if you’re looking to change up your leafy greens routine, consider making collards … in a quiche!

Collard Greens Quiche with Grain-Free Crust

by Heba Saleh

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Keywords: bake saute entree side gluten-free low-carb soy-free sugar-free vegetarian collard greens almond flour French spring winter

Ingredients (5-6)

For the grain-free pie crust:

2 cups almond flour (ground, blanched almonds)
1 pastured or organic egg
2 teaspoons grass-fed ghee
1/4 teaspoon unrefined salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (optional)

For the collard greens filling:

1/2 bunch organic collard greens (about 6 large leaves)
1 yellow onion, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon grass-fed ghee
1/4 teaspoon unrefined salt
1/2 teaspoon ground organic ginger
pinch ground nutmeg
1 pastured or organic egg
1 cup grass-fed ricotta cheese (use whole milk ricotta, if possible)
2-4 tablespoons shredded Gruyère or Dubliner cheese (or any hard grass-fed cheese you have on hand)
dash freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

(1) Preheat oven and prepare the grain-free crust. Preheat oven to 350F. Meanwhile, in a food processor, add the 2 cups of almond flour, 1 lightly beaten egg, 2 teaspoons ghee, salt and nutmeg, and blend until a dough forms. Taste a tiny bit to adjust seasoning to your liking.

(2) Add dough to an 10-inch baking pan and bake. Press down to even out the crust, making sure it covers the bottom and curves upwards on the corners and sides. Bake on 350F for 10 minutes until crust starts to turn a very light golden color.

(3) Saute the collard greens, onion and garlic. Chop one onion, and saute in ghee for a few minutes till beginning to caramelize. Chop collard greens (I include the stems, but it’s up to you), and add to pot, stirring for a couple of minutes. In a separate small pan, peel 4-5 garlic cloves, and saute in ghee till lightly golden. Then, add garlic to collard greens and onion mixture. Stir and turn off heat.

(4) Add spices and egg. Add salt, ground ginger and ground nutmeg to collard greens mixture. Taste to adjust seasoning. Then, beat one egg, and mix well into collard greens.

(5) Add cheese and bake. Add a layer of ricotta cheese on the set crust. Then, pour the collard greens mixture on top of the ricotta cheese, and even out. Add hard cheese on top (I used Dubliner), and put in the oven to bake for another 10 minutes. Add a dash of freshly ground black pepper and serve warm.

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This post was shared on the following blog carnivals: Real Food Freaks’ Freaky Fridays, The Healthy Home Economist’s Monday Mania, and The Tasty Alternative’s Allergy-Free Wednesdays.

“Good for You” Cream of Broccoli Soup (Don’t Throw Away the Broccoli Stalks!)

February 20, 2012 in Dinner, Frugal Eating, Homemade, Soup/Stew

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Who can say no to a big bowl of delicious, creamy broccoli soup made from scratch?

For the longest time, I didn’t really care for broccoli. Maybe because it’s touted as something that is “good for you”, I just naturally rebelled against it. Maybe because it was always paired with an olive oil, and I wished for a more filling combination. Then, one day, I decided to give broccoli another chance. It was nothing fancy, just steamed broccoli with a big pat of lightly salted pastured butter melted on top. And goodness, was it good! It was just missing a big chunk of butter all these years. Since then, I’ve learned that butter from exclusively grass-fed cows is “good for you” too! And boy, was that a revelation — all this time I had the wrong impression that things that are good for you aren’t that tasty. Broccoli soon became one of my favorite veggies.

Check out this little cute broccoli floret. You can just eat this steamed with butter. It's the stalks that need to be pureed into soup to be just as yummy!

Recently, I’ve also been into experimenting with soups. After investing in a trusty stainless steel immersion blender (Cuisinart Smart Stick Hand Blender is the one I’ve been using – it’s awesome), I’ve been obsessed with making soups. I recently made a very simple creamy cauliflower soup that doesn’t involve any dairy or gluten. Another one of my favorite soups is a vegetarian one that I posted on midEATS: the Egyptian red lentil soup (I do sneak in a couple of vegetables in there, but I’m partial to the delicious lentil flavor). And after recently learning about the many benefits of bone broth, I usually save the bones from a pastured and organic chicken or turkey that I buy and when I’m ready for broth, I simmer the bones for several hours overnight till they’ve released their collagen, gelatin, vitamins and other goodness, and I use that broth in my non-vegetarian soups! I also often boil a pastured chicken to yield a simple chicken stock that I use as a base for many of my soups.

Making a soup using broccoli was just the next logical step in my soup-making extravaganza. I’ll let you in on another secret: I still haven’t learned to enjoy the fibrous, crunchy broccoli stalks in their original form. Buttered up broccoli florets are perfect when they’re slightly soft but haven’t lost their crunch entirely. Broccoli stalks, on the other hand, don’t easily yield to heat in the same way; plus, their flavor is less interesting than the delicate florets. Buttering up the stalks just doesn’t cut it and eating them still feels like a mini-chore. But not eating them isn’t an option for me either: throwing out the vitamin-rich stalks just because they’re not super palatable when eaten whole might be the stupidest move — both for your health, and for the sake of world hunger (stop the trend of wasting food!).

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Don't waste healthy food. Chop up those broccoli stalks and add 'em to your soup!

So, I’ve devised a way to save both the broccoli stalks and the bones from pastured birds from being added to the growing bins of food waste! Cooking the sliced stalks, along with carrots and caramelized sauteed onions, in bone broth and pureeing them into a velvety perfection is the answer. If that’s not a good example of frugal eating, I don’t know what is! I’ve tried with both bone broth from turkey bones I’ve saved from the Thanksgiving turkey, and with chicken stock from a pastured chicken. Either way, the soup is tasty as it is with only the veggies and broth, but adding some raw grass-fed milk in there takes the soup from good to stellar. Adding a cup of raw milk after the soup has cooked imparts that delicious creaminess to the soup. In terms of spices, I like to keep it simple with just a little sprinkle of organic ground ginger and fresh sage leaves.

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As delicious as it looks!

And what’s an authentic broccoli soup without some cheese? I leave the cheese out of the large pot, and offer it as an optional side. I’ve tried crumbling bits of the grass-fed Kerrygold Dubliner into my broccoli soup, and I loved the wonderfully salty and cheesy taste it imparts. The Dubliner is pasteurized but at least it’s full-fat and grass-fed. According to Kerrygold’s website, the Dubliner is “aged for 12 months, and has elements of a mature cheddar, sweet nutty tones of a Swiss and the piquant bite of aged Parmesan.” You can try melting any type of grass-fed hard cheese into the soup — just makes the soup-making process that much more interesting, in my opinion!

Cream of Broccoli Soup (Made with Turkey Bone Broth)

by Heba

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Keywords: saute simmer blender soup/stew gluten-free nut-free soy-free sugar-free low-carb broccoli winter fall

Ingredients (serves 6)

4 large organic broccoli stems, peeled and cut into chunks (of course, you may also use the florets if you wish; but soups are a good way to eat the otherwise fibrous stems)
3-4 large organic carrots, chopped
6 cups homemade chicken or turkey bone broth or homemade chicken stock (using pastured and organic chicken or turkey) – I used turkey bone broth from Thanksgiving turkey bones that I had saved in the freezer – turned out fabulous
1 large yellow onion, peeled and diced
1 cup raw whole milk from grass-fed cows (use organic, grass-fed low-temp pasteurized milk if you have no access to raw milk)
1 tablespoon grass-fed organic ghee or pastured butter
3 tablespoons fresh organic sage leaves, chopped
1 teaspoon organic ground ginger
Unrefined salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Kerrygold Dubliner or other hard cheese, preferably raw and grass-fed (optional)
Fresh lemon juice, to taste (optional)

Instructions

(1) Prepare the bone broth or stock: If you have no broth or stock on hand, use some saved bones (that you’ve previously frozen) from pastured birds to make a nutritious broth by simmering the bones overnight in a pot-full of filtered water, a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, an onion, some carrots and celery, and spices. You can also make stock in advance by boiling the pastured bird for an hour or two with an onion, some bay leaves and cardamom seeds, and some salt and pepper. For either, make sure to filter the veggies, bones and spices out before saving the liquid in a glass jar. This recipe assumes you have either bone broth or homemade stock previously prepared.

I regularly freeze bones from pastured animals (pictured here: turkey bones) and use them to make broth. It's a frugal way to add some vitamins to your diet!

(2) Chop and saute onion: Peel and dice an onion. In a large stainless steel pot, melt a tablespoon of grass-fed ghee or pastured butter, and saute the onion on medium heat until it has caramelized a bit and has become fragrant, stirring occasionally throughout.

You can use other varieties of onions you have on hand instead of the yellow onion; it's more flexible than you think!

(3) Chop broccoli and carrots and add to pot: Peel the broccoli stalks and chop into small pieces. Chop the carrots as well. Add chopped broccoli and carrots to the pot and saute on medium heat for a few minutes with the onions, stirring frequently.

Again, you don't have to use large carrots. I just sub in baby carrots if these are on hand.

I found that lightly sauteing all the veggies together for a few minutes gives a nicer flavor than just boiling them right after the onion has caramelized.

(4) Pour the stock or bone broth in the pot: Measure approximately three parts stock to two parts veggies, and add to the pot. Bring to a boil, cover, and leave to simmer on low for 35 minutes, until the broccoli stalks and carrots have become soft.

(5) Puree the soup, and add milk and spices: Using an immersion blender, blend the soup into liquid. Then, add a cup of raw whole milk to the pot, and blend once again to integrate the flavors. Finally, add the ground ginger, fresh chopped sage leaves and unrefined salt and black pepper, and bring the hand blender to a final whirl. Taste the soup and adjust the seasonings as you see fit.

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I guess you could use heavy cream instead of milk if you have that on hand. I prefer eating my cream raw though!

(6) Add the cheese and lemon juice (optional): If you wish, you can add a few drops of fresh lemon juice to the soup for a little zest. In individual plates, you can also add thin slices of hard tasty grass-fed cheese for a little extra flavor and for the texture of melted goodness. Either way, make sure to serve warm, and enjoy!