I have to admit, I had always shied away from making any kind of vegan pie before, I just thought it would be way too tricky. But I really like pie! So I had to start giving it a go. And although technically this is more of a tart, the pie crust can be used for any kind of savoury pie you like. I have been experimenting with this, and originally followed a pie crust recipe from a great book I found, ‘ The Complete Guide to Vegan Substitutions’. Fantastic book. Their recipe wasn’t quite what I wanted and felt too crumbly. So I tweaked it a bit and have now used it many times in different sorts of pie so I will be sticking with it. You need a food processor for the pie recipe. It is probably possible without, but a lot more difficult!
The filling again was inspired by someone else’s recipe, which was actually for a raw vegan pie. I have tweaked it a bit and changed the filling but it is a classic tomato herby cheese tart, using the cashew nut to create a creamy base to layer the filling and tomatoes on. I dehydrated my tomatoes the second time I made it, but you don’t have to do this, just grill the top at the end if you like the tomatoes well done like I do. I used beautiful organic tomatoes I got from my local farmers market, at a very popular stall from Wild Country Organics, if you live in London do check out your local market and see if these guys are there.
Use all buckwheat for completely gluten free pie crust- I can tolerate 100% spelt flour but some gluten intolerants can’t.
I used an 8 inch fluted flan tin
Preparation Time: around 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients Base
1 cup stoneground buckwheat flour
1/2 cup stoneground spelt flour
1/4 cup vegan nutritional yeast
1 clove garlic or 2 teaspoons garlic powder
pinch sea salt
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup cooked wholegrain rice
Cashew Cheese Spread
1 cup ground cashews ( I use a coffee grinder )
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
juice 1/2 medium lemon
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar ( can make without )
1/2- 3/4 cup water
Toppings
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 teaspoons coconut oil
1 teaspoon paprika
squeeze agave nectar ( optional )
handful chopped spinach
about 1/4 cup chopped sorrel ( optional )
3-4 organic tomatoes, to cover the top of your tart.
Vegan Tomato, Onion & Cashew Cheese Tart Directions
Pre heat oven to 160C.
Grease your pie dish well with coconut oil.
To make the foundation, combine all of the base ingredients, including the cooked rice, in a food processor. Mix until it forms a dough. You may need to add a bit of water, it will be a sticky-ish dough but will form into a ball in the processor.
Press the dough into your pie dish with floured hands, make sure it is even. Before putting it in the oven for about 10 minutes, poke holes in the crust with a fork; you just want it to be ‘just baked,’ not browning.
Prepare the cashew cheese by mixing all ingredients in a bowl while blind baking the pie crust (the cashews must be properly ground first). This eliminates the need to soak cashews before using them as a dairy replacement in cheese recipes. The cashew cheese should be a thick, garlicky spread with a hint of herbs.
Toss in the spinach and sorrel with the onion and garlic mixture and cook for a few minutes.
Layer the onion filling on top before topping with your tomatoes- I dehydrated mine for a few hours first but this isn’t absolutely necessary, see above.
Place your pie in the oven and cook for about 25 minutes, you will need to keep an eye on it and perhaps grill the top for 5 minutes at the end.
Rest for 5 minutes before serving. I imagine this keeps well in the fridge but so far it gets eaten pretty quickly!