Leek and Spinach Tart With Rice Crust

Submitted by bluemoon downunder

"The delicious rice crust makes this pie so much tastier and so much healthier than pies with a pastry crust. I have adapted it from a recipe in Karen Meyer's 'The Artful Vegetarian', and I am posting it for the Healthy for the Holidays Challenge!"

 

• Ready In: 1hr 30mins
• Ingredients: 15
• Yields: 1 tart with rice crust
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• CRUST

• 1 1⁄2 cups long grain brown rice
• 1⁄2 cup sesame seeds
• 2 tablespoons tahini (see Notes)
• 1⁄2 cup whole wheat flour or 1/2 cup cornflour
• 2 1⁄2 teaspoons tamari (see Notes)

• FILLING

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 leeks, thoroughly washed, halved and finely sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 400 g baby spinach leaves, roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon oil, extra
• 1⁄2 cup unbleached white flour
• 1 1⁄2 cups low-fat milk or 1 1/2 cups soymilk
• 2 teaspoons tamari (see Notes)
• fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 cup grated cheese (optional) or 1/2 cup pine nuts (optional)

directions

1. THE CRUST: Cook the rice for about 45 minutes in boiling water, or until quite soft; drain well but do not rinse; mix all the crust ingredients together and press into the base and sides of a lightly oiled 10 inch flan dish and chill while making the filling.
2. THE FILLING: Heat the oil in a non-stick pan and, over a low heat, sauté the leeks and garlic slowly for about 15 minutes; add the baby spinach leaves and sauté until they have just wilted, about 2 minutes. Set aside.
3. In another pan, blend the oil and flour and heat gently until bubbly, then stir in the milk or soy milk, tamari and freshly ground pepper.
4. Bring to the boil and cook, while stirring, to make a thick white sauce. Combine the leeks mixture and the sauce, and pour the mixture into the pie crust.
5. Bake in a moderate oven for 15-20 minutes. If you want a golden crisp topping, add the (optional) grated cheese in the last 5 minutes of baking. Or if you'd like some extra flavour and crunch, add the (optional) pine nuts in the last 5 minutes of baking.
6. Serve with a simple green salad or one of Theodore Kyriakou’s fabulous Greek salads: Recipe #141988 or Recipe #141992.
7. NOTES: Tahini (one of the ingredients in most hummus recipes) is made from ground sesame seeds, and tamari is a pure form of soy sauce, free of chemicals and preservatives. Tamari can be used in any recipe instead of stock cubes. Both tahini and tamari are available in health food stores and larger supermarkets.

Reviews

[Kittencalrecipezazz]

well I made quite a few changes with this recipe so not sure if I should even be rating it, I did not go the vegetarian route and used another rice crust recipe that I have used in the past, however it turned out great, thanks for sharing Bluemoon!

 

[reddyanna]

I'm pretty sure I followed the directions on this one but the rice crust was certainly not a good enough alternative to pastry for me.

 

[echo echo]

I made this with white rather than brown rice, but otherwise kept this pretty much as is. I liked the texture and taste of the crust very much. I liked the spinach-leek-garlic filling, too, though it was a bit saltier than I'm used to, probably because of the tamari--I always use reduced-sodium soy sauce but couldn't find reduced-sodium tamari. If I make it again, I'll probably use reduced sodium soy sauce; however, I doubt most people would find this too salty, so I won't grade this down for this. For cheese, I used crumbled feta rather than grated cheese of another kind. I skipped the pine nuts.