Dairy-free vegetarian tarts - recipe suggestions please!

[TigerDrankAllTheWaterInTheTap]

Hello again, I'm thinking about making some vegetarian tarts when friends come round soon. There are quite a number of vegetarians amongst them and one person who doesn't eat dairy so I've been thinking about using vegan recipes. I have some filo in the freezer so might use that rather than make pastry.

Any suggestions for fillings? I've been looking at a nice one for creamed spinach which used cashew cream in place of a dairy element. I have cashews so could have a go at making some cream.

Any mileage in using tofu for more of a quiche-style filling? I was thinking about leeks or onions with mushrooms there.

I've ordered some nutritional yeast as I gather this is a good way of getting a cheese-like flavour into the mix. Any tips there too?

Thanks in advance!

I'm going to have a go at this: www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/jun/09/meera-sodha-recipe-tomato-pistachio-saffron-tart-vegan

Looks great and not too tricky.

Still mulling over whether to do a contrasting thing using spinach, leeks and mushrooms with more of a creamy texture, but avoiding cheese and real cream.

Could you do something with squash, like spiced squash?

Thanks, Thisnamechanger, I could have done, but now I've decided to do the tomato tart I want to do a contrasting colour/texture, so I think I'll do a dairy-free version of spanakopita, using a vegan ricotta recipe I've found made from cashews. Should be interesting!

I probably will be using squash as an ingredient in a big salad, probably with kale. Such a beautiful colour!

Lots of puff pastry is vegan. Brush it with oil or a plant based milk.

This one is a favourite of mine...
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2123/goats-cheese-and-new-potato-tart%3famp

You can use a vegan cheese. Tesco do a really nice coconut oil based one with pepper on that works well.

Forgot, you could use a dairy free pesto instead of the herbs and leave out the cheese altogether and it’s still nice.

Thanks, PurpleDaisies, I must say I've been enjoying myself a lot in the last few days exploring vegan blogs. I'm an omnivore but I don't want to eat too much meat. Normally when catering for vegetarians or planning a meat-free meal I would turn to dairy as at least one of the protein elements so trying to eliminate that as well as meat has been challenging.

When it comes to puff pastry, what I would have liked is to get one which contains only vegetable fat but no palm oil. That doesn't seem to be possible from a mainstream supermarket. Pity.

Fortunately, as far as I know nobody coming has a nut allergy, so nuts are going to be a big player in my buffet.

(Not just guessing about the allergy, we have asked! Not one to mess about with.)

My French SIL did an amazing tart this summer - puff pastry, smear of mustard, sliced tomatoes laid out in neat rows, capers, basil torn over the hot tart at the end. (She did two, but put anchovies and olives on the other one!)

Jus-Rol puff pastry (the normal one not the butter one) is vegan IIRC.

Mmm, that sounds good, especially with anchovies and olives. (She could have put olives on the vegan one, surely?)

Anchovies are fish. They’re not vegetarian/vegan.

Sorry, just reread and realised they were on a meaty one.

Lots of Mumsnet think vegetarians eat fish.

Oh sure, she could have - it was kept to one tart only for the one weird anchovy/olive hater in the family 

Ah, a weirdo indeed! Nobody here likes anchovies except me, unfortunately.

I think I'll do a dairy-free version of spanakopita, using a vegan ricotta recipe I've found made from cashews. Should be interesting!

I have done a good vegan sanakopita with using the olive taifun tofu instead of any cheese substitute.

Thanks, SushiMonster, that's another one to consider.