A recipe to celebrate the start of my favourite season – aspargus saffron tart

Hey there!

 

Today I’ve finally got a new savoury recipe. Yet I’m not really sure what I should call this dish, is it a tart, a quiche or for all the Swiss a Wähe? – I’m not sure myself. Yet what I do know is, that this tasted absolutely amazing. But lets not make it complicated, so from now on I will just call it a tart, got it?

This is the perfect tart to launch my absolute favourite time of the year, springtime (I know it is technically not spring yet, but the current weather just makes it seem like it). Waking up to tweeting birds just screams spring to me and if then the sun rays are touching my face when I roll up the blinds then that people, is the perfect start of a day, well at least for me.

 

So that was exactly how yesterday’s Saturday morning began when I got up fairly early to go to a Yoga class in Zug. After that I obviously checked out the local supermarket there which happens to be one of the bigger ones in my area hence there was heaps of vegetables I couldn’t dream of finding in my local tiny Volg supermarket.

There was Cima di Rapa and Italian collard, kale and then those humongous beetroots. Yet these things were all either too big or too heavy and I just didn’t feel like carrying them.

 

However there was also a big pile of those green long sticks I adore so much right at the opening of the vegetable section. They were literally whispering into my ear, buy me, buy me, buy me! So I went up to the pile of green goodness and started checking they’re origins, Chile, Mexico and last but not least there were organic ones from Spain so I just couldn’t resist.

I know in two months time there will be tons of locally grown ones in the shops but as I said I was basically forced to get them so I just couldn’t not buy them…

 

By now you would have probably guessed that I am talking about asparagus, which have popped up in all Swiss supermarkets over the past five days. So since I was planning to make a tart I decided those would be the perfect addition to an already amazing recipe. Besides asparagus I also used some cherry tomatoes for the topping. The veggies are rather conventional yet the rest of the filling ended up being quite extraordinary. I actually went for a vegan version of a tart so I couldn’t really opt for eggs nor milk hence I decided to use silken tofu, which I flavoured with saffron and rosemary. I also included rosemary in the dough, which just made the whole thing come together perfectly.

I actually brought my tart to a dinner my mum and I were invited to and I actually got the approval of all my test eaters that this tart tastes pretty amazing. So I guess now it is on you to create this delightfulness, so here you go, the recipe:

 

 

• 150g spelt flour
• 80ml water
• 2tbs olive oil
• 1tbs chopped rosemary
• 1tsp salt

 

• 150g asparagus
• 80g cherry tomatoes

 

• 300g silken tofu
• 1tbs cornstarch
• 2tbs nutritional yeast
• 2 sachets of saffron
• salt
• pepper
• 1tsp chopped rosemary
• 20ml of any plant based milk

 

 

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C (circulating air)
2. Chop up a few sprigs of rosemary so you end up with approximately 1tbs and 1tsp of finely chopped rosemary.
3. Add flour, salt and th1tbs of the chopped rosemary into a bowl, then add the water as well as the olive oil and mix the mixture until forms one dough ball. You might want to use your hands to do this though make sure you only knead it just till all your flour has been incorporated into the dough otherwise you’ll over knead it which will change the texture of your end result.
4. Wrap your dough in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for approx. 20 minutes.
5. Meanwhile cut your asparagus in half and boil them in salted water for around 5 to 6 minutes.
6. Chop your cherry tomatoes in half.
7. Last but not least mix silken tofu, cornstarch, nutritional yeast, saffron, 20ml of your choice of plant based milk and the rest of your chopped rosemary until your mixture is smooth. Also add salt and pepper to taste.
8. Now roll out your dough about to about 5mm thickness. Transfer it into a lined round baking sheet.
9. Poor your liquid mixture onto your dough and then distribute your asparagus and cherry tomatoes on top.
10. Bake your tart for 25 minutes in your preheated oven. Then let it cool down a little and it will be ready to serve.

 

Voila, you just created an amazing tasting fully vegan tart, which will definitely be one of my spring favourites. This is the perfect thing to bring whenever you’re invited to a dinner party or you could even just enjoy it at home on a busy weeknight. The preparation didn’t take any longer than 30 minutes and while your tart is baking you go off and clean up, read a book or sit outside in the lovely spring weather.

 

Enjoy this sunny Sunday

Bisous

Fanny, the foodie