Zucchini, Almond & Spinach Slice

LEVEL: easy Cook: 50 minutes 8

Zucchini, Almond & Spinach Slice

BOOKMARK

DELICIOUS

Description

Breakfast, Brunch, Lunch, Dinner or just a snack… make me on a Sunday and you’ve got options for days, literally

Hypothetically, if you were to buy too many zucchini’s and far too much spinach that could be used within it’s “best before” still-safe-to-eat zone what would you do with them?

I am a repeat offender, particularly when it comes to zucchini. Perhaps it is my love for the colour pop it can add in any recipe, the nutritional value when grilled or steamed as a noodle, the moistness it adds to a cake of a loaf without an overpowering flavour… Zucchini could be the definition of versatile, whether it be fritter, gnocchi, a savoury baked snack, in noodle form, grilled with fresh tomato, replacing pasta in lasagna, a vege stack or even as a potato chip replacement… it speaks for itself.

This week I had one last, large zucchini, a couple of cups of spinach and some almond meal that had been eyeing me off for days (but almond meal is like flour gold and I really wanted to do something a little different with it).

I used a batch of pastry that I made a number of days ago and froze, just remember to get it out of the freezer the night before and refrigerate until defrosted. Briefly knead to ensure it doesn’t crack, it’ll be tough at first but with a little warmth from your hands it becomes more pliable and easier to work with. Because it’s gluten-free, I find that shortcrust can be quite crumbly. It’s taken many many recipe tests to perfect a recipe but I’m convinced that it all comes down to the resting time – the longer the better. Also, after many failures I’ll never again condone gluten-free pastry making on a warm/hot humid day.

Serve for breakfast with a drizzle of balsamic glaze, for brunch or lunch, or even as a quick pre-made weeknight dinner with salad and maybe some sweet potato oven bake fries.

Make the pastry ahead with this recipe

Ingredients

1 ¼ c almond meal

2 c spinach leaves

1 garlic clove

1 large zucchini

¼ c unsweetened almond milk

3 eggs

1 tsp. mustard powder

1 tsp. chilli flakes

1 tsp. celery salt

1 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. coriander seed

1 tsp. salt and pepper

6 cherry tomatoes

1 sheet prepared shortcrust pastry

Directions

1: Roughly chop the zucchini into chunks, to fit the jug of a food processer.
2: Pulse until finely chopped and then scrape into a mixing bowl.
3: Add the spinach leaves, a peeled garlic clove and the milk to the processor bowl and pulse the spinach until mostly chopped finely. Add to the mixing bowl.
4: Add the almond meal and all herbs and spices to the mixing bowl.
5: Stir through well to combine everything and then add the eggs. Combine.
6: Grease a quiche dish and gently place the pastry over the dish, pressing lightly into the edges.
7: Pour the slice mixture into the pastry case.
8: Pre-heat fan forced oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
9: While the oven heats slice the cherry tomatoes in half and then place in the top of the slice mix.
10: Cook, for 45-50 minutes until the slice has set and the pastry is golden brown.
11: Remove from the oven and allow to cool before serving.
12: Serve with a drizzle of balsamic glaze.