As our climate changes, so will our diets. Fix’s Climate Future Cookbook introduces you to foods that show what sustainable, equitable, and resilient eating could look like. Do try this at home.

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August 2072

Mary’s granddaughter is out in the garden again, mesmerized by the soil creatures. Her hands are always in the dirt. At school she’s learning that soil is alive and sacred, and how to properly care for it so that it can continue to care for us all. 

“Ash, do you want to bake a quiche with me?” Mary calls. She’s using her grandmother’s recipe, unchanged apart from the source of a key ingredient. She rubs her thumb over the word “flour,” jotted down in her grandmother’s handwriting. It used to be milled from annual wheat and bought in sacks at grocery stores. This recipe predates the perennial transformation. Mary glances out her window to the proud stalks of wheat growing on her Kansas farm, their roots reaching ever deeper, next to native grasses and late summer wildflowers. The prairie is slowly returning to its former vibrancy. 

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“Yessss!” Ash calls back, and runs inside to join Mary in the kitchen.

They gather the ingredients: spinach from the garden, foraged mushrooms, eggs from the chickens in the yard, and butter, milk, and cheese made from precision fermentation. And for the crust: their own perennial wheat flour, milled by a neighbor up the road. 

Mary smiles as she recalls baking quiches with her grandmother. She’d be pleased to know Mary was honoring tradition as well as reciprocity with the earth. As Ash measures the ingredients, Mary mixes the dough with her hands, relishing the texture of the flour that grows on their land. 

Person holding quiche in dish with kitchen cloth
The Land Institute

Mushroom Quiche with Perennial Wheat Crust

Yield: 6 servings

Time: 10 minutes to prepare the dough, 10 minutes to prepare the filling, at least 60 minutes to chill the dough, and about 45 minutes to cook the quiche

The crust, made from perennial wheat, is also an excellent base for a sweet or fruit pie.

* * *

INGREDIENTS

For the crust:

  • 1 cup perennial wheat flour
  • 3 teaspoons sugar
  • 1½  teaspoons salt
  • 1 stick very cold unsalted butter
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons cold water

For the filling:

  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 4 ounces mushrooms, chopped
  • 5 ounces fresh spinach (about 2 cups), chopped
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1½ cups shredded cheese of your choice
  • 4 eggs
  • 1¼ cups whole milk
  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • ¼ teaspoon mustard powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • Paprika to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Make the crust:

  1. Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl.
  2. Cut the butter into small chunks, and incorporate using a stand mixer or your hands until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
  3. Add cold water and mix until the dough comes together.
  4. Chill the dough before rolling it out, at least 60 minutes or as long as overnight. Place in a 9-inch pie pan.

Make the filling:

  1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. 
  2. Saute the onion, mushrooms, and spinach in the butter over medium heat until soft, about 4 to 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  3. Sprinkle the cheese over the crust, spreading it evenly. Layer the onion, mushroom, and spinach mixture over the cheese.
  4. In a bowl, combine the eggs, milk, flour, mustard powder, and salt. Pour the mixture into the crust.
  5. Sprinkle paprika over the filling, then bake for 45 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe courtesy of Claire Wineman

Try more recipes from Fix’s Climate Future Cookbook: