With Spring just around the corner, it is time to incorporate more asparagus into your meals! This vegan asparagus tart is a great way to show off the wonderful flavors of this nutritious vegetable.
Paired with vegan cream cheese, lemon, and dill, this pastry tart is both fresh and zingy. By using pre-bought vegan puff pastry you can have this dish on your table in under 30 minutes! Continue reading to discover some useful recipe variations.
What is the best way to cook asparagus?
There are many ways to cook asparagus, but one of the best ways is to roast it in the oven, tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper. You can also grill, steam, or sauté asparagus, which is much quicker than in the oven.
For this vegan asparagus tart recipe, you will essentially be roasting the asparagus whilst on top of the pastry sheet.
What pastry should you use for a tart?
To achieve a delicious flaky tart base, we recommend using puff pastry. Not only does it taste great, but it is also versatile and can be used in a variety of sweet and savory recipes. So, if you have any extra puff pastry leftover from this recipe you could consider using it to create a small plant-based dessert, like these quick apple tarts or this vegan strawberry galette.
Puff pastry traditionally uses butter, but there are many options available that use plant-based ingredients instead. These can be found at most grocery stores.
Recipe variations
This asparagus tart is delicious as it is, but if you need to make amendments for dietary or seasonal reasons, or you don’t have the right ingredients to hand, then the recipe is really simple and easy to adapt. Here are our favorite variations of this vegan tart:
- Make it gluten-free: You can use a gluten-free ready roll pastry sheet to make this recipe gluten-free
- Substitute the asparagus: If you don’t enjoy asparagus, or you are making this recipe outside of the Spring season, you can swap it for another ingredient. You could try purple sprouting broccoli, artichoke hearts, or even green beans
- Increase the protein quantity: Instead of using a pre-bought vegan cream cheese you can blend some white beans or a packet of silken tofu to create a protein-packed cream sauce for the bottom of your tart
Vegan asparagus tart recipe
Ingredients
- 150 g vegan cream cheese I used violife
- 1/2 lemon zest and juice
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 2 cloves of garlic crushed
- A handful of fresh dill chopped
- Salt and pepper
- 1 bunch of asparagus
- 1 ready rolled puff pastry sheet 425g
- Serve with:
- Wild arugula
Instructions
- In a bowl, add the cream cheese, lemon zest and juice, olive oil, and herbs.
- Mix to combine and set aside.
- Cut the hard edges from the asparagus.
- Preheat your oven to 200°C and line a baking tray with some parchment paper.
- Add the pastry on your baking tray (make sure to remove the pastry from the fridge only when you are ready to use it!), spread the cream cheese on a single layer, leaving a 2cm edge on all sides.
- Add the asparagus on top on the cream and bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden.
- Cut in 8 squares and add some lemon zest and fresh arugula on top.
This recipe was created by Natali Eleftheriou of Natlicious Food. You can find the original recipe here.