Falafel Crust Quiche Ideas?
We were in a falafel shop yesterday and i got to thinking, 'wouldn it be interesting to make a quiche with a falafel crust?' In 52 search I found chefjune's really delicious sounding falafel coated salmon (which of course i then printed out to be made soon!) but no chickpea or falafel crusted quiche. In googling, i found the below, but it doesn't quite do it for me. I don't know what protein powder tastes like; i'm not vegan,..... I was thinking about that crust. I prob would want to make the falafel( or maybe legume) mix myself, because i have this sense that it's maybe usually oversalted as a mix ? and then i started thinking about the filling. i have an unusual recipe for a quiche filling of smoked eggplant, chevre and sundried tomato.....but that is a very punchy flavorful mixture that would prob compete w/ falafel, (but not with a white bean crust; ah ha!..)
but back to the falafel crust. How would i cook it? i'm thinking i would form it in the pan , coat it with oil and pre-bake it- to try to equal the deep fried cooking? And I would fill it w/ something non-herbed and refreshing.(I always like alot of tahini sauce or yoghurt sauce with my falafel.)So maybe just a chevre custard....with tomatoes. Need that acid.
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What do you think?Anyone want to play?
(google yielded this:
1 15.5-ounce can chickpeas, drained
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup scoop protein powder
2 tablespoons olive oil)
And, as long as i'm running manic here, I had this cool idea...i think. I always want aLOT of fresh tomato with my falafel- it's my whole bright acid need to accompany herby spicy salty things. So what if i took falafel 'batter' and formed it around a cherry tomato and deep fried it?!! If that idea worked, and it didn't fall apart and ruin the frying oil, wouldn't that be cool to bite into a falafel and get a burst of tomato in the middle?!!... or not? In the last few months, since seeing a lifetime of cooking passion get completely REkindled by 52, i have become fixated on the idea of (hidden) fillings. Fillings as an element of surprise. You can't see them, you bite into something you think is 'B', but you find out it is B but also A !! So this falafel w/ a surprise cherry tomato filling- is along those lines! Whaddya think, you creative 52ers out there?! ( i have no prob w/ you shooting down the idea, btw.)
best,
mindy
1 15.5-ounce can chickpeas, drained
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup scoop protein powder
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 Comments
My concern with the falafel crust is that it might end up serving as a textural thing more than anything else. The quiche itself might help with that, but it's starting to remind me of all the horrible dry falafel I've had here with only tsatsiki and tahini to help it out.
The cherry tomato idea sounds promising. What if the cherry tomato was first caramelized in olive oil, vinegar, herbs and a little sugar? That burst in the center would be all that more intense and surprising...
mindy
mindy
p.s. glad to know it's not salty;sounds like the way to go. i bet if i looked in some of my BOOKS (gosh, don't we all have so many cookbooks that likely have our answer, but we keep on googling instead) there might be some ideas for this. Green on grains.; greens;etc etc !
The falafel coated deep-fried tomato sounds tasty, but in my experience, whole cherry tomatoes retain heat really well and I've definitely scalded the inside of my mouth with the juice from a tomato I've just bitten. It could be with a try, though, especially if you don't plan to serve them piping hot!
As for your falafel quiche crust... I'm skeptical. I'm gluten-free, so I've tried quiche crust with just pureed carrot or potato and it always ends up mushy, no matter the pre-baking. Falafel is different from those veggies, so I suppose it could work. Maybe if you formed mini shells around the base of an overturned mini muffin tin? Let me know if you try your idea!