Vegan Tomato, Cream Cheese and Onion Marmalade Tart - Perfect for Fath

I originally made this as a simple vegan Valentine's day meal idea, in lieu of making a romantic pudding. As usual, my desire for something savoury got in the way of, so I made a distinctly unpudding-like main course: cherry tomato, soft cheese and onion marmalade tart.

This was inspired by my vegan quiche, and pairs well with my delicious vegan Caprese salad!

As I recall, the original recipe, entitled Love Apple Tart (literally cannot remember where this original recipe was from), had a slightly more Mediterranean feel than my taste buds were dictating, using anchovies, yuk, but I wanted something more bolstering. I wanted onions and I wanted tangy cheese!

My version has a sticky onion layer (red onions cooked down until they become like a marmalade, almost), a tangy vegan cream cheese layer, topped with on the vine tomatoes, cooked until they are roasted and start to pop.

Now, all plant-based cheeses are hit and miss. Some taste great but having that "stick to you teeth" thing, others have a nice texture but no flavour! Vegan cream cheese usually has a pretty good texture but lacks flavour so I add a little bit of nutritional yeast, which seems to bring out a natural cheesy flavour where ever you add it!

And whilst I'm posting this recipe as a vegan Valentine's meal idea, it really could be served all year round, and makes a perfect family supper too!

• vegan cream cheese. Use your favourite brand, I like Violife.
• Tomatoes on the vine. You could add sliced tomatoes instead, but I like how dramatic these look on top of the tart!
• onions. I used red because that was what I had, use whatever onions you have, you could also use leeks!
• pastry. I use my shortcrust pastry recipe here, but in this instance I used 150g of plain white flour and 110g of wholemeal flour, to give a nutty flavour to the pastry. This is entirely optional.

(This is ONLY a list of ingredients for the recipe; please see recipe card below for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

Blind bake your pastry case for 20 minutes whilst you prep the other ingredients.

Cook down the onions and garlic with the balsamic vinegar and brown sugar.

Mix together the cream cheese, nutritional yeast and thyme

Spread the onion mixture over the tart case, then top with the cream cheese

Place the tomatoes on top, still on the vine and bake

Once cooled for about 10 minutes, unmold the tart and serve!

Hint: this tart tastes even better cold, so you could make it the day before, refrigerate overnight and then bring up to room temperature before serving the next day!

• red onions - you could use white onions or even chopped leeks instead
• Pastry - use gluten free flour in the pastry to make this tart gluten free
• Thyme - use some fresh basil instead of thyme, or even fresh mint or parsley!

• Spicy - add chili pepper flakes to the cream cheese to make this a bit spicy, or stir in some hot sauce!
• Mediterranean - try stirring in a little tapenade into the cream cheese, or adding some chopped black olives

I used an 8" deep pie tin for this recipe, similar to this one but you could use a quiche dish instead.

Once baked and cooled, this tart will last for up to 3 days, covered and refrigerated.

Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:

Easy Vegan Puff Pastry Asparagus Tart

Easy Vegan Quiche - you won't believe that it's eggless!

The Most Incredible Veggie Burger Recipe (Easy, Vegan and Full of Flavor!)

The Ultimate Classic Vegan Lasagne (or Lasagna) Recipe