Asparagus-'Fontina' Tart

In place of Fontina, use any vegan cheese of your choice. I like the vegan mozzarella from Galaxy Foods, which shreds great. Phyllo dough makes for an easy tart crust, and as always, I use the one from Fillo Factory which is certified vegan.

To begin, trim the ends off 16 thin spears of asparagus. Cut a 4-inch long tip off of each spear, and set the tips aside. Chop the remaining asparagus.

In a bowl, make the equiavalent of 4 eggs using egg replacer (such as Ener-G). In the original recipe, this was actually 3 egg whites and 1 whole egg. Using Ener-G, that's 2 tablespoons of the powder whisked into 1/2 cup water.

Stir in 3 tablespoons plain soy milk (such as Silk), 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/8 tsp. nutmeg and 1/8 tsp. black pepper. Stir in the chopped asparagus.

Now it's time to work with phyllo, so clear a flat workspace. The recipe calls for 8 (18x14-inch) sheets, and you layer one at a time, coating with cooking spray between layers, then pressing down to seal at the end, before coating the top phyllo sheet with cooking spray as well. Cut out an 11-inch circle from the center of the phyllo using a sharp knife, and press into a 9-inch tart pan, coated with cooking spray. Chop the remaining phyllo dough, and sprinkle over the bottom of the tart pan.

I made a couple of mistakes here. First, I thought I had 8 sheets of phyllo left in my package, but I only had 6, so my crust was a tiny bit thinner than it should have been. I also cut my circle too small, closer to 9 inches. So when I sprinkled the remaining chopped phyllo, I also pressed some up the sides of the tart pan, since I didn't have enough excess to press up the sides and fold the edges over, as I should have.

Back to the real recipe... sprinkle 1/4 cup shredded vegan cheese and 1/2 cup shredded and peeled Yukon gold potato over the crust. Place the tart pan on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Pour the 'egg' mixture over the crust. Arrange your 16 asparagus tips in a spoke-like pattern, with the tips facing towards the outside of the pan, then sprinkle the top with another 1/4 cup shredded vegan cheese.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Lightly cover with aluminum foil and bake an additional 5 minutes.

Cut the tart into 4 wedges, each of which is 240 calories. Enjoy!

Cost:
asparagus $3.29
plain soy milk $2.49
Yukon gold potato $0.73