While the month of December usually gets filled with lots and lots of Christmas cookie baking, this year has turned out a little different. We recently subscribed to a weekly vegetable package. And while we normally eat a lot of vegetables, this has brought it to a whole new level. And my fridge has been stock full with fresh seasonal vegetables, so full that I have had to focus most of my cooking time to turning all of these gems into food for us and the freezer 🙂 And last week I got a big bunch of beautiful Rainbow Swiss Chard and thus this recipe for Low Histamine Leek and & Swiss Chard Quiche came to be.
We used to have a weekly organic and local vegetable package, but the little organic produce vendor in walking distance from out house where the package was delivered, closed down when the owners retired. It was owned and run by the sweetest old couple who would always have a little something for my then little toddler (who is now 6 years old….. how the time flies). After that we had a hard time finding a good replacement, due to logistical reasons, and we started growing more and more food in our allotment garden as well. And then the HIT hit (pun intended ;))….. and I didn’t want to sign up for a package every week, where I couldn’t control the content.
But now I eat almost all vegetables again including higher histamine vegetables (with the exception of spinach, which I still try to avoid as much as possible), and a local organic farm started delivering vegetable packages to our town, with the most convenient drop off location ever – my children’s school! So I can pick up my kids and fresh and seasonal organic veggies at the same time. Any busy mother’s wish come true 😀
Anyways last weeks package contained leeks and a huge amount of rainbow Swiss chard (among others) – and thus this beautiful Low Histamine Leek & Swiss Chard Quiche was born 😀 And now I will stop boring you with what turned out to be a very long story about vegetable packages 😉 So here comes the recipe <3
Preheat the oven to 210 °C (410 °F). Clean the leeks and cut them into thin rings. Add them to a big frying pan together with the butter (or coconut oil), 1/4 tsp salt, and the fresh thyme. I personally don’t have a pan big enough, so I used my wok. Let them cook for about 3-4 minutes until they are translucent, don’t let them brown. Meanwhile rinse and slice the Swiss chard finely, and then add to the pan with the leek. In the beginning this looks like a huge mountain of Swiss chard, but trust me it will cook down. Cook the leek and the Swiss chard together for about 5 minutes. Make sure to stir regularly. When the greens has wilted down, take them off the heat and let them cool down a bit.
While the greens are cooking mix together the eggs, coconut milk, flax seeds, nutritional yeast, a pinch of nutmeg and the remaining salt. Both the grounded flax seeds, nutritional yeast and the pinch of nutmeg are optional. If you are still in the elimination phase of the diet, leave out the nutritional yeast and the nutmeg. If you leave out the nutritional yeast, you will need to add more salt then.
Line a 23 cm/ 9 inch round pie baking pan with parchment paper and unroll the puff pastry dough roll, place it in the baking pan. Since mine was rectangular and thus both too long and too short, I cut off one end and placed it over the part of the pan that wasn’t covered with dough, and made sure the two parts of the dough stuck together as one piece (press the edges of the two pieces of dough together with your fingers). If you like you can of course also make your own pie crust.
Add the egg mixture to the cooled veggie mix and give it a good stir, to make sure it is all mixed well. Pour the egg and veggie mixture into the baking pan lined with puff pastry dough, and spread it out evenly. If you like me have any excess dough just fold it in over the quiche. Or you can cut it off and make a pretty border, I just couldn’t be bothered. Place the quiche in the middle of the preheated oven and bake for approximately 30 minutes. Keep an eye on it, as you don’t want the puff pastry to burn, and you do want the quiche to be set. It might need up to 45 minutes depending on your oven. Once the quiche is set in the middle and the puff pastry has a beautiful golden color, take it out of the oven and let it cool down for a bit before digging in to it. Trust me this will be difficult, since your kitchen now smells divine. Serve with a simple green salad.
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This Low Histamine Leek & Swiss Chard Quiche can be enjoyed as a side dish or as a main dish accompanied by a simple green salad. Perfect for brunch, lunch or dinner. Can be made dairy free and/or gluten free as well as for different levels of histamine intolerance.
Ingredients
- 300–350 g leek, cut into thin rings (10.6 –12.3 oz)
- 300–350 g (rainbow) Swiss chard (10.6 –12.3 oz)
- 1 tbsp of butter (or coconut oil, if dairy free)
- 3–5 sprigs of fresh thyme (or a tsp of dried thyme)
- 3 eggs or 10-12 quail eggs (I used 12)
- 250 ml coconut milk (1 cup. Full fat, you can also use dairy based cooking cream if you are not dairy free)
- 1 tbsp of freshly grounded flax seeds (optional)
- 2–3 tbsp of nutritional yeast (optional, omit if you are still in the elimination phase)*
- a pinch of nut meg (optional, omit if you are still in the elimination phase)*
- 1/2 salt (more if you omit the nutritional yeast)
- 1 package/roll of (gluten free) puff pastry dough sheet (ca. 250 g /8.82 oz)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 210 °C (410 °F).
- Clean the leeks and cut them into thin rings. Add them to a big frying pan together with the butter (or coconut oil), 1/4 tsp salt, and the fresh thyme. Let them cook for about 3-4 minutes until they are translucent, don’t let them brown.
- Meanwhile rinse and slice the Swiss chard finely, and then add to the pan with the leek. Cook the leek and the Swiss chard together for about 5 minutes. Make sure to stir regularly. When the greens has wilted down, take them off the heat and let them cool down a bit.
- Mix together the eggs, coconut milk, flax seeds, nutritional yeast, a pinch of nutmeg and the remaining salt.
- Line a 23 cm/ 9 inch round pie baking pan with parchment paper and unroll the puff pastry dough roll, place it in the baking pan. If your puff pastry sheets doesn’t fit your baking pan perfectly, you can always piece it together by pressing the edges of two pieces of dough together with your fingers. If you like you can of course also make your own pie crust.
- Add the egg mixture to the cooled veggie mix and give it a good stir, to make sure it is all mixed well.
- Pour the egg and veggie mixture into the baking pan lined with puff pastry dough, and spread it out evenly. If you like me have any excess dough just fold it in over the quiche. Or you can cut it off and make a pretty border, I just couldn’t be bothered.
- Place the quiche in the middle of the preheated oven and bake for approximately 30 minutes. Keep an eye on it, as you don’t want the puff pastry to burn, and you do want the quiche to be set. It might need up to 45 minutes depending on your oven.
- Once the quiche is set in the middle and the puff pastry has a beautiful golden color, take it out of the oven and let it cool down for a bit before digging in to it.
Notes
- Both the nutritional yeast and the pinch of nutmeg are optional, omit if you are still in the elimination phase. If you leave out the nutritional yeast, you will need to add more salt.
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Rigtig glædelig jul til dig og tsk for altid rigtig fine opskrifter . Dennegang bruger dy gær vil du beskrive dette nærmere , gær bruger jeg lidt af til mine havreboller men altid med lidt dårlig samvittighed , men kan dit hær. Over mit ikke kan ? X jette reimick
Hej Jette,
Rigtig glædelig jul. Jeg har brugt noget der hedder ´Nutritional yeast´ i selve tærte fyldet. På dansk hedder det vist ´gærflager´ eller ´ernæringsgær´. Det bidrager med en let oste agtig smag, men du kan sagtens lave tærten uden. Vær dog opmærksom på at der i så fald skal bruges mere salt.
Tania
Swiss chard is very high in histamine!
Hi Duncan,
Chard is listed with the score of 1 on the SIGHI Food Compatibility List for Histamine, I in general include foods listed as 0-1 on this blog. IF you don’t tolerate swiss chard or don’t feel comfortable including it in your diet, you can replace the swiss chard with kale or cavolo nero/ italian kale.
Tania
Hi Tania
These lists are very inaccurate and their sources are often not stated. Several published studies show that members of the family Amaranthaceae are high in histamine (and other biogenic amines), which includes spinach, chard, and beetroot. I am compiling a list based on valid scientific studies (many are poor) and aim to publish it in due course (when other projects permit). Chard and spinach affect me equally badly. Beetroot greens are as bad but I can eat the root (home grown and freshly cooked – the long cooking time may have an effect). The importance of other amines, especially putrescine, is also generally overlooked and their levels usually increase as plant foods degrade. The high variability of reported histamine/putrescine levels may be related to freshness but also to the age/growth stage of plants. For example, levels may be lower in young chard leaves compared with big old leaves. Similarly, I have no problems with freshly picked home-grown tomatoes.
I find that cinnamon tea (made with Sri Lankan cinnamon not cassia) is highly effective at reducing “histamine intolerance” symptoms and this is experimentally supported.