Proper Northern Savory Spinach and Red Onion Tart
‘So thank you. I am still not sure what it is that has made your pastry stand firm while mine crumbles but I will certainly use your technique again.’
Ann S, Kendal; Black Labrador Member
Walk the Path
Next: Vietnamese Caramelised Tofu →
This recipe is part of the Flash and Form Cookery Pathway.
Table of Contents
✨ Before We Begin…
Flaky pastry base with caramelised onions and spinach — a slice of northern comfort.
The Cook’s Mind
What This Recipe Helps You Practise
- Blind baking pastry.
- Caramelising onions slowly.
- Balancing spinach with creamy filling.
Make-Ahead
- Can be baked ahead and eaten cold.
- Reheats gently in oven.
Freezer-Friendly
- Tart shells that have been blind-baked freeze well. Cook the pastry from frozen.
- Onions and garlic freeze well after cooking but the red colour is diminished.
- The key part of this to freeze is the baked tart shell.
Key Substitutions
- Spinach: use chard or kale instead.
- Onions: swap red for white.
Cooking Parlance
- Blind bake: part-cook pastry before filling.
- Caramelise: cook onions slowly until sweet.
Ingredient Focus
✨ Spinach — earthy and nourishing.
Serving Suggestions
- Serve warm or cold.
- Pair with salad or soup.
Multi-Purpose Recipe
This recipe has more than one life…
- Cut into mini tartlets.
- Use filling for filo pie.
- Wedge inside a packed lunch?
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Comforting and hearty.
- Balanced with sweet onions.
- Great hot or cold.
Watch It Being Made
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Introduction
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Handpicked to Go With This One
A few recipes that play well together — flavour friends, not just neighbours.
- Floofy Lemon Traybake
- Rhubarb Rose Fool with Almond Crunch
- Roasted Chickpea, Red Pepper Antipasto with Smoked Paprika Oil Dressing
Waste Less: How To Use Up Your Ingredient Stash!
Got something spare — a handful, a spoonful, or the end of a packet? These tags help you find other ways to use it. It’s a small step toward cooking intuitively and wasting less ❣️
apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, flaxseed, fresh garlic, garlic powder, Kala Namak, new potatoes, nutritious yeast, onion powder, red onion, silken tofu, spinach, turmeric
Proper Northern Savory Spinach and Red Onion Tart
Proper Northern Savory Spinach and Red Onion Tart
Big on flavour and texture, this tart starts with homemade pastry that’s leagues above shop-bought. The filling is satisfying and keeps well, making it perfect for any meal of the day. Travels well and tastes great hot or cold.
Photographed truthfully. If you cook it, yours will look like mine.
Ingredients
- 150 g new potato | cooked weight; choose a waxy potato
Ingredients for the wholemeal pastry
- 9 g ground flaxseed
- 60 ml water
- 210 g wholemeal flour
- 80 g Trex
- 1 pinch turmeric
- 1 pinch salt
Ingredients for the vegetable filling
- 300 g red onion | unpeeled weight
- 10 ml olive oil
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 cloves fresh garlic | grated
- 200 g spinach | raw weight
Ingredients for the cheesy tofu mix
- 300 g silken tofu
- 20 g nutritious yeast
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- ¼ tsp Kala Namak
- 1 pinch turmeric | large
- 18 g cornflour
- 5 ml apple cider vinegar
- 30 ml lemon juice
- 6 g salt
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
Cook the potato
- Simmer the for 10-15 mins. Use a sharp knife to check they're cooked through. Leave to cool, then chop.150 g new potato
Make the pastry
- Mix the flaxseed with the water. Leave to stand for 5 minutes.9 g ground flaxseed, 60 ml water
- Into the Magimix, put the flour, Trex, turmeric and salt, and pulse to mix to resemble breadcrumbs. Check the fat is evenly dispersed.210 g wholemeal flour, 80 g Trex, 1 pinch turmeric, 1 pinch salt
- Add the flaxseed and water, and pulse again. The pastry dough should be as soft as your cheek, and not sticky.
- Tip into a bowl and knead to make a smooth ball of dough. Too much water at this stage leads to pastry shrinkage in the oven so if you add more water, do it a little at a time, adding just half a teaspoon at a time…
- Wrap the finished ball in clingfilm and put into the fridge to rest for at least 30 minutes.
Cook the onion and garlic
- Peel and chop the onions into slim onion petals 1cm wide max.300 g red onion
- Cook in olive oil on a low with a pinch of salt.10 ml olive oil, 1 pinch salt
- When the onions are cooked, peel and grate the garlic into the pan with the onions; cook the garlic for 2 minutes.2 cloves fresh garlic
- When the onion and garlic are cooked, turn the heat up to medium, and then add the spinach and turn the spinach on the higher heat to wilt it. Keep it moving to encourage moisture loss.200 g spinach
- When the spinach is cooked, tip the pan's contents into a sieve to drain remaining moisture.
Make the tart base
- Preheat the oven to 200℃ fan (220℃ conventional)
- Coarsely grate the cold pastry into a tart tin 23cm diameter.
- With a light touch, make the sides by pushing the grated pastry into position.
- Watch the video… I'm making 'walls' of pastry. Once the walls are done, spread the pastry across the bottom of the tin and press down. I find it easy to have too thick a pastry where the 'wall' meets the base, which is not correct, so watch out for that.
- Prick the finished shell with a fork to keep it flat whilst it cooks.Carefully add tin foil and a layer of baking beans.
- Protect the edge of the pastry with the tin foil by gently covering the edge, and put into the preheated oven for 20 minutes. This is called blind baking.
Make tofu mix
- Whilst the pastry is blind baking, put the listed ingredients apart from the ground black pepper into the Magimix and mix to a smooth paste.300 g silken tofu , 20 g nutritious yeast, 1 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp garlic powder, 2 tsp Dijon mustard, ¼ tsp Kala Namak, 1 pinch turmeric, 18 g cornflour, 5 ml apple cider vinegar, 30 ml lemon juice, 6 g salt
- Once you have a smooth paste, add the ground black pepper and mix by hand.½ tsp ground black pepper
Remove baking beans
- Take the tart shell out of the oven at 15 minutes, carefully lift the baking beans foil sheet out of the tart and look to see if any parts aren't cooked. Uncooked spots will be darker.Return to the oven for 5 more minutes if any part looks uncooked. Keep going until the pastry is cooked. Keep protecting the edges with tin foil.Once you're happy, remove the tin foil edges and prepare to fill your tart.
- Ensure the oven is 200℃ fan (220℃ conventional).
Fill tart and cook
- Combine the tofu mix with the onion/garlic/spinach. Carefully fold together to avoid breaking up the spinach.
- Put the potato chunks on the bottom of the cooked pastry, then fill the tart case with the mix and tap to flatten.
- Place carefully into the oven and cook the tart for 25-30 minutes. It's not temperamental so you can get it out and see how firm and 'set' the middle is and then put it back in.
- When you first cook this, after 25 minutes, take a fork and get a tiny bit of tofu mix out of the centre of the tart and taste it. Is it gritty? If so, that's 'raw' cornflour, so put it back in. If you're concerned that the edges are catching as you continue to bake the tart, add the tin foil edges again.
- Once it's cooked, leave it to cool in the tin.
Notes
- Multi-purpose: slices for packed lunches are great; good served with salad and maybe fries for a meal… or just a wedge standing up if short on time…
- Freezer-friendly: uncooked balls of pastry freeze really well…
- Make-ahead: this is a classic make-ahead recipe. This sits very happily in the fridge for a few days. I keep mine simply on a plate and covered with tin foil.
Nutrition
Calories: 194kcalCarbohydrates: 21gProtein: 6gFat: 10gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0.3gCholesterol: 17mgSodium: 454mgPotassium: 342mgFiber: 4gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 2078IUVitamin C: 12mgCalcium: 86mgIron: 2mg
Nutritional values are estimates only and will vary depending on specific ingredients used. Nutrition is per serving. Information is for the main recipe, not optional accompaniments.
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© The Golden Polar Bear, 2025. Recipes and photography by Julia Savory. If you share this, please pass it along with kindness and if possible share a link back to this site. #ForTheAnimals
