Cooking

For a delicious vegan meal, serve with Gazpacho soup and finish with a dark chocolate and avocado mousse.

INGREDIENTS

• Ready rolled puff pastry – most store-bought puff pastry is vegan, just check the ingredients to make sure

For the caramelised onion:

• 2 x small onions, finely sliced
• 1 small clove garlic, finely chopped
• 20g olive oil
• Small pinch of thyme

For the vegetables:

• ½ each of a small aubergine, small courgette, red and yellow pepper cut into dice
• 1 small red onion cut into dice
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• Small pinch of thyme and rosemary
• 50g olive oil

For the pesto:

• 65g toasted pinenuts
• 65g Vegan cheese
• 50g fresh basil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 200g extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

To finish:

• 100g Vegan cheese
• 50g black olives, sliced
• 4 x finely sliced basil leaves
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar
• Sea salt
• Coarse ground black pepper

METHOD

• For the caramelised onion: Place all the ingredients into a pan and render down until the onions are caramelised. Cool and reserve for later.
• For the vegetables: Cook the aubergine in the olive oil first as it will take longer than the other veg, you may need a little more oil as the aubergine is quite porous. Once the aubergine is cooked (it releases oil when it is), add the rest of the vegetables and cook until tender. Cool and reserve for later.
• For the pesto: Freeze the pinenuts, cheese and garlic. Chill the olive oil and basil in the blender. Blitz all the ingredients until smooth, season with the salt and pepper.
• Cooking the tart: Pre-heat your oven to 180C. Cut the pastry into squares, prick lightly all over (to stop it rising) and place on a tray lined with silicone paper. Bake for  8-10 minutes until lightly cooked. It will be going back in the oven later so don’t overcook it! Cool and reserve for later.
• Building the tart: Spread a layer of caramelised onion. Add a layer of cooked vegetables. Divide the cheese between the tarts and sprinkle over the vegetables. Refrigerate until needed.
• Cooking and finishing the tart: Pre-heat your oven to 160C. Bake the tarts for 8-10 minutes until warmed through. Meanwhile, dress plates with the pesto. Once the tarts are warmed through, remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar then sprinkle the olives and finely sliced basil. Finish with the sea salt and black pepper. Serve.