This vegan leek & polenta flan is very nutritious and tasty – great for those summer al fresco meals with salad. It’s also great in winter to remind you there is such a thing as summer!
I love the combination of leeks, onions & herbs & smothering it all in well seasoned polenta mixture tops it off well. Chesnut, oyster, king oyster or white mushrooms are best to use as field mushrooms would colour the filling too much.
I’ve used mainly wholemeal flour for the pastry case so using a loose bottom flan tin is best. This is because wholemeal pastry is difficult to work with and the loose bottom makes it easier.
I like recipes that don’t leave you too many odds & ends in your fridge to go off, so this uses a whole leek.
Polenta is very versatile indeed and super nutritious. This uses a fine grade of polenta, where my other recipes use medium or coarse, but medium would work too.
This dish will go well with a simple green salad, or my herby summer potato salad. It will also go with garlic bread if you have any in the freezer ready to go.
If you use medium polenta, then you can use it in my other tasty polenta cakes: blueberry polenta cake & marmalade polenta cake.
Pastry making is a bit of an art, but once you’ve mastered it, there are loads of uses. Most tarts or flans require pastry so it’s well worth mastering.
Enjoy making this vegan leek & polenta flan – then try banoffee pie, cherry bakewell tart, pumpkin pie, or pecan pie!
Vegan Leek & Polenta Flan
Ingredients
For the pastry case
- 200 g wholemeal pastry flour or a mix of emmer & wholemeal.
- 100 g vegan butter/shortening - flora plant based is good or use 75g coconut & 25g rapeseed frozen
- ½ teasp salt - lo salt is best
- 3 tbsps cold water
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
- 50 g vegan cheese, cheddar, blue, shropshire optional - reduce flour by 25g if using
For the filling
- 300 g medium leek to large leek
- 200 g onion good sized medium one
- 3 cloves garlic
- 30 g fresh parsley
- 120 g fine or medium quick cook polenta I used fine for this one but either will work
- 500 g boiling water filtered is nice
- 20 g cold pressed olive oil
- 1 whole onion, umami or veg stock cube
- 1 teasp onion granules or powder
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
- ½ teasp ground black pepper
- 2 teasp ground red or green peppercorns optional
- ½ teasp salt - lo salt is best
- 75 g vegan cheese optional
Instructions
- Make a batch of wholemeal pastry and line a tart 20cm tart tin - instructions to follow.
- chop the leeks, onions and garlic into fairly small pieces - the garlic finely sliced and chopped
- add the olive oil to the saucepan, and put on a low heat
- add the onions, leeks and garlic in one go - no need to separate them in time.
- stir often, add a little water if they stick. They want to sweat rather than sizzle.
- after 10 minutes add the finely chopped parsley and other spices, and mix well. Continue to sweat with the lid on for another 3 to 5 minutes.
- remove from the pan and set aside in a bowl or on a plate.
- In the same pan, add in the water - near to boiling, but not boiling
- Pour in the pre-weighed polenta stirring well as you add it along with the other dry ingredients. Keep an electric or hand whisk handy in case you need it to get any lumps out.
- Bring the heat up to medium stirring all the while until it thickens.
- Add in ¾ of the leek mixture stirring well to distribute thoroughly.
- pour or spoon this into a ready prepared pastry case and level with a fork.
- Bake for 25 minutes at 190°C (fan) or top shelf if convection oven.
- If using the vegan cheese, grate it and mix it in with the remaining leek mixture
- .spread remaining ¼ of the leek mixture with some optional grated vegan cheddar on top and return to the oven for 5 minutes to brown slightly.
- When finished it should look like this - slightly browned on top.
