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Vegan Tart with Roasted Tomatoes and Arugula Pesto

Course dinner. luncheon, sides
Cuisine Vegan

Ingredients

for the roasted tomatoes

  • fresh tomatoes to cover a baking sheet I used 40 cherry tomatoes and a few green zebra and golden queen tomatoes
  • 4-5 whole unpeeled garlic cloves
  • olive oil to drizzle
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt

for the tart crust

  • 1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/2 cup Earth Balance Butter cold and sliced
  • 1/4 cup ice water

for the arugula pesto

  • 3 garlic cloves peeled
  • 10 ounces arugula
  • 1 cup walnuts
  • 1-2 tablespoons nutritional yeast see Sound Bites
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • salt to taste

for the tart assembly

  • 2 cups vegan mozzarella (I used Diaya
  • 1 cup sauteed mushrooms optional, but I love mushrooms...you can add peppers, onions, whatever you fancy

Instructions

  1. You can prepare the tomatoes, tart dough and arugula pesto up to a few days before. If you do it all on the same day, leave time to let the tomatoes hang out in the oven.
  2. For the tomatoes:
  3. Preheat oven to 425.
  4. Cover baking sheet with foil and throw on tomatoes (cut the larger ones into chunks).
  5. Add garlic.
  6. Drizzle with olive oil and a few shakes of sea salt.
  7. Bake for 40 minutes, then leave in turned off oven for an hour.
  8. Remove from pan and (if not using right away) store in plastic container in the refrigerator.
  9. For the tart crust:
  10. Put all ingredients in food processor (EXCEPT FOR THE WATER)
  11. Pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal.
  12. Pour over ice water a little at a time and pulse until mixture comes together.
  13. Turn mixture out onto lightly floured surface and knead into a ball.
  14. Flatten to a 6 inch disk, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate a few hours or overnight.
  15. For the pesto:
  16. In a running food processor, toss in the garlic cloves until finely chopped.
  17. Add arugula and process until well combined.
  18. Add nuts and process until a paste is formed.
  19. Add nutritional yeast and olive oil and process until smooth.
  20. Add salt to taste and store in air tight container in refrigerator.
  21. Tart Day!
  22. Preheat oven to 350 F.
  23. Take out dough and allow to come up in temperature for about 20 min.
  24. Roll dough out on lighlty floured surface to a diameter about 2 inchaes larger than tart or pie pan.
  25. Form to pan and allow edges to hand over. Fold edges under and pierce with fork as pictured.
  26. Bake until golden, about 20 min.
  27. Allow to cool a bit (so you don't burn yourself!) and spread on a layer of pesto.
  28. Sprinkle on a cup of shredded mozzarella.
  29. Add tomatoes (if there seems to be a lot of liquid, drain in strainer first)
  30. Sprinkle on mushrooms (or peppers/onions) if using
  31. Sprinkle on another cup of cheese.
  32. Bake for 30 minutes, covering edges if they get too brown.
  33. Sprinkle with a little vegan parm and serve.
  34. Roll

Recipe Notes

What the heck is nutritional yeast? Sadly named, this delicious, B-vitamin loaded ingredient is an inactive form of yeast made from sugar cane and beet molasses. It lends a cheesy, savory umami flavor to almost everything.It's amazing sprinkled on potatoes, popcorn and I use it in all my pesto recipes. Nutritional yeast... it's not just for vegans and hippies anymore!