I served this to our (older) neighbours when we lived in France and they loved it, despite being rather skeptical of other dairy-free recipes in general. The filling is so deeply savoury and flavourful that you don’t even notice that it’s made with non-dairy yogurt – I really don’t think it would make a difference. This is equally good filled with a nice thick pesto.

You have two options for the filling, as written: with roasted garlic or with raw garlic. While the ingredients below are pictured with raw garlic, I much preferred roasted despite the extra time needed, and highly recommend it.

For a nice solstice menu try this paired with something like a summery Greek chickpea salad or strawberry salad, or serve alongside a roasted tomato, zucchini, and eggplant soup. It’s excellent with any tomato-based dishes.

Ingredients

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

• Puff pastry: these came conveniently sold in rounds in France but if yours are square, simply use a large plate to cut into rounds before adding the filling. I use a good quality vegan puff (most are vegan unless they specify that they use butter).
• Labneh: while my vegan labneh recipe calls for thick coconut yogurt, for this recipe a good Greek-style soya is better as it’s more neutral. Any thick yogurt can be used. Cashew cream cheese would work too.
• Garlic: as mentioned above, use roasted or raw. You’ll need two heads if using roasted.
• Add-ins: try finely chopped soft herbs like basil or oregano are very good – parsley is a bit hard – or chopped roasted tomatoes, cooked finely chopped mushrooms, caramelised onion in place of garlic, or anything else you might like. Avoid anything that has too much water in it.
• Lemon: you can substitute preserved lemon and omit the salt.

Step by Step

Step 1: strain the yogurt overnight, then mix with the other filling ingredients.

Step 2: spread the filling onto one round of the pastry.

Step 3: top with the other round and place a glass into the centre. Cut into four equal triangles, leaving space for the glass.

Step 4: cut each triangle into four more triangles, to make 16 total strips.

Step 5: twist the strips twice each, optionally curving each strip slightly toward the next one (this makes more of a sun shape).

Step 6: bake until golden brown and cool slightly before serving.

Recipe Notes

If you don’t have the time or willingness to make strained yogurt, you could sub a store-bought cream cheese alternative instead. If you eat dairy, I imagine something like mascarpone would work just as well but I haven’t tried it (or a spreadable herb cheese).

It’s quite nice to serve with a piquant dip to cut through the richness of the pastry – think a spicy tomato sauce, pesto, or even something like avocado aioli.

How to Store

Storage: refrigerate the cooled leftovers for a day or two. Tarte Soleil is surprisingly good cold, though less crisp, of course.

Freezing: I don’t recommend freezing this. Either you bake it before freezing and then the pastry is soggy when it thaws, or you freeze it unbaked and the filling can separate when thawed.

Expert Tips

• Use a tin with holes: to help avoid the dreaded soggy bottom, if you have one, you can use a perforated quiche tin to help the base heat more effectively.
• Keep the moisture low: don’t add too much to the filling, and keep what you do add thick and without any watery ingredients. If using pesto, make sure it’s hefty. The strained yogurt will be about the consistency of cream cheese.
• Over-bake a little: the pastry should be very golden, top and bottom, so if you’re not sure, give it another couple of minutes. As long as it doesn’t burn, it’ll be fine.

More Savoury Pastry Recipes

Roasted Vegetable Pie
Caramelised Onion and Mushroom Pie
Vegan Mushroom Pot Pie
Potato Onion Galette