Spinach Tomato Tart
Fall is in the air, the evenings are getting cooler and my dehydrator is humming again! During the summer, dinner is almost always a hearty salad made with fresh finds from the farmer’s market. But as the evenings cool off, I find myself wanting something a little more substantial and the raw food recipes start getting a little more creative!
I made this little tart with the left over tomatoes from the Hearty Heirloom Salad. I love the concentrated flavors of a marinated tomato, so into the dehydrator they went. Once these were done I knew they would make a perfect little tomato tart. The crust is made from almonds and kale (for an extra nutritional punch) and the filling uses cashews, tomatoes and spinach! With a little advanced planning to marinate the tomatoes and dehydrate the kale, these little raw, nutritious tarts come together in a pinch and the flavor is unbelievable! A perfect raw food recipe for dinner tonight, or your entertaining menu! *Day Before Notes: Marinate tomatoes, dehydrate kale, soak cashews.
You can use baking rings, or tart shells for these tarts. I love these rings: Baking Rings and this tart pan: Tart Pan
Perfectly marinated tomatoes!
Tomato Spinach Tart
SERVES 4-6
Marinated Tomatoes
- 4 cups cherry tomatoes, divided
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 clove garlic, diced fine
- 3 tablespoons Italian herb mix (oregano, basil, marjoram, thyme and cracked rosemary from Penzey’s)
- Whisk together olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic and herb mix.
- Slice tomatoes in half and toss with vinaigrette to coat.
- Place on dehydrator sheets and dehydrate at 145 for 1 hour. Reduce heat to 115 and finish dehydrating 6-8 hours or until tomatoes are done. (Don’t worry they are still raw. The food temp never goes above 115 degrees)
Crust
- 1 cup almonds
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
- 1/2 cup kale flakes (dehydrate your kale when you are dehydrating the tomatoes)
- pinch Himalayan salt and pepper
- To make the kale flakes, dehydrate 2 cups of kale (you can do this when dehydrating the tomatoes) and when completely dry, crush with rolling pin.
- Place almonds in food processor. Process until a fine crumb is achieved.
- Add kale, coconut oil and salt and pepper. Pulse to mix.
- Pat 1/4-inch deep in tart shells. You can use one 9″ tart shell or 4 smaller tart shells.
Filling:
- 1 1/2 cup cashews, soaked overnight in the fridge and drained
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 lemon, juice from
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 3 tablespoons water
- 2 cup spinach (crushed by hand)
- 2 cups marinated tomatoes
- Place cashews, garlic, lemon juice, nutritional yeast and water in high speed blender. Blend until smooth, remove from blender to bowl.
- Stir in crushed spinach and tomatoes.
- Top with a the remaining two cups of marinated tomatoes and put in refrigerator until set, approximately 1-2 hours.
lindy wrote on September 8, 2011
this looks amazing and came just in time as I was invited to a potluck lunch before sailing on Saturday… and as for dessert… I’ve been making a very quick dessert every night: mango sorbet – 1 mango, 2 frozen bananas, 12-16 ice cubes. (If you don’t know how to cut a mango, you can look at you-tube) Place all in vitamix… start out slow to get it turning, then turn up to high for aprx 10-15 sec and then at max speed for another 15-20 sec. It will be very very thick. It comes out delish and smooth. We love it so much we’ve been making it every night!
…scatter joy…
Tres Delicious wrote on September 8, 2011
That looks awesome! Such a health giving stuff tart.
Huda wrote on September 8, 2011
so many amazing recipes, so little time to make them. Happy to have discovered your site.
Mallory wrote on September 7, 2011
This looks incredible! I will be going to Italy soon and hope to use some fresh Italian tomatoes to try this! By hand crushing the spinach, do you simple mean squeezing it? Or do I need to tear it into little pieces?
Susan wrote on September 7, 2011
Yes, just crush it with your hands. No tearing required.
romi wrote on September 7, 2011
Hey Susan, what is your trick for getting these out of a tart pan without breaking them….. yours look so beautiful, mine, many pieces:(
Thanks, romi
Susan wrote on September 7, 2011
Romi….all of my tart pans have removable bottoms!
sheryl wrote on September 7, 2011
Sorry, also noticed that in the crust recipe you list coconut butter as the ingredient, but in the directions you say to add coconut oil. Which would be best, the oil?
Susan wrote on September 7, 2011
It is coconut oil.
sheryl wrote on September 7, 2011
What exactly do you mean by the tomatoes being “divided”? Does that mean cut in half? Also wondering about the spinach “crushed by hand”. Recipe looks and sounds great, can’t wait to try.
Susan wrote on September 7, 2011
Normally when an ingredient is listed as “divided” it means that you will be using part of it in one way and part in another way. If you read the recipe, you will notice that 2 cups of the tomatoes are placed in the filling and two cups are put on top. Thus, divided. 🙂
Betsy wrote on September 7, 2011
Susan, amazing work as always! Very inspiring!
-Betsy
Susan wrote on September 7, 2011
CJ..I would serve it with a big salad.