VEGAN ASPARAGUS TART
Celebrate the asparagus season with this mind-blowingly delicious vegan asparagus tart, which will make a beautiful centerpiece at your dinner table. Creamy cashew & tofu filling, crunchy asparagus and flaky pastry make it one delicious number to share with your friends and family.
Equipment
- Food processor
Ingredients
For the filling:
- ½ cup unsalted raw cashews soaked overnight in cold water or in boiling hot water for at least 2 hours
- 225 g extra firm smoked tofu
- Juice of 1 medium lemon
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes or to taste
- 1 tbsp vegan-friendly green pesto you can skip this step but I’d highly recommend adding it for the fullness of flavour
- 3 tbsp finely chopped fresh basil
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Water as needed
For the tart:
- 300-350 g fresh asparagus spears, ends trimmed (around 40 spears)
- 320 g ready-rolled puff pastry sheet (I used a vegan-friendly version)
- 1 tbsp mixed seeds finely chopped
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp almond milk or tamari sauce for the ‘egg wash’
- Rocket salad & spring onions for garnish
Instructions
- To make the filling, combine all filling ingredients in a food processor and blitz until creamy. Whilst the motor is still running, keep adding water a little at a time until you reach creamy, spreadable consistency. If you’re using plain tofu instead of smokey, the overall flavour will be less ‘cheesy’, so you might want to add more nutritional yeast flakes.
- Preheat the oven to 200C/ 180C Fan/ 400F/ Gas mark 6 and line an oven tray with parchment paper.
- Unravel the puff pastry sheet. Using a knife, score a 2-inch border around the edges, so they puff up when the pastry is in the oven, and pierce the middle of the pastry sheet with a fork. Brush the pastry edges with a little almond milk (or tamari sauce) to help them brown off. Sprinkle finely chopped seeds along the edges of the tart and pop it in the oven to blind bake for 10 minutes until just golden.
- Whilst the pastry is in the oven, bring a saucepan of water to a boil, add trimmed asparagus spears in the boiling water and blanch for 2 minutes. Drain and transfer to a big bowl of ice cold water. Let the asparagus cool down completely. Transfer to a clean kitchen towel and pat dry.
- Take the pastry out of the oven, spread the cashew & tofu filling evenly all the way to the edges with the back of a spoon.
- Arrange the asparagus spears on top of the filling, alternating the spear ends. Drizzle the asparagus with a little olive oil, season generously with salt & pepper and sprinkle with lemon zest. Bake in the oven for another 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.
- Garnish the tart with peppery rocket salad, spring onions and a drizzle of olive oil just before serving.
Notes
*You can make the filling for this tart 3-4 days in advance (keep refrigerated). If you have any leftovers, it’s a great spread for your toast!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!