Chipotle Tomato and Lupini Bean Tart
(aka, what to bring to a summer potluck that everyone can eat)
Story + Photography by Sarah Carroll
A few weeks ago, I was invited to a friend’s house for a summer potluck meal. The email invitation said that many people had dietary restrictions- gluten, nuts, seafood, you name it. And me being the mother of all dietary restrictions, I knew I wanted to make something seasonal, healthy, and filling that everyone could enjoy.
But not a salad. No, no, no. There’s nothing worse than coming home from a potluck hangry because all you’ve eaten is a salad.
The fact of the matter is that we all need some great, filling, good-for-all recipes in our repertoire. Maybe you need to bring something to a gluten-free, vegan potluck. Or maybe you just need a protein-rich, inexpensive recipe that tastes so good you forget you’re eating a plant-based meal.
Well, this chipotle tomato and lupini bean tart will be your new best friend. It starts with a crumbly, savory tart crust. Then a puree of sautéed shallots, garlic, ground chipotle, fresh summer corn- and, you guessed it, my favorite- lupini beans! And then topped with local, juicy tomatoes both from my garden and the Eastside Co-op. Summer in a springform.
Lupini beans, like all pulses (the food family encompassing beans, peas, and lentils), are plant-based diet all-stars. They are inexpensive. They are hard to mess up. They are chock-full of protein, 26 grams per cup to be exact. They are filling for hours. They have a bonkers nutritional profile. And, if you can manage not to eat them immediately straight from the jar, they are great in meals like this one that you can pre-prepare for the week or bake fresh for a special meal.
And, as beautiful and rustic as this tart is, it’s family friendly. It gave my heart a little squeeze to see a scantly-toothed toddler nomming down on this tart from their parent’s plate.
Adding plant-based recipes like this to your mix is also an important step in moving away from factory-farmed animal products and towards humane, sustainable, pastured alternatives. High quality, ethical animal products cost more than their artificially cheap conventional counterparts. So if you’re working on eating ethically on a budget, it’s important to eat less meat but better meat. Less dairy but better dairy. Fewer eggs but better eggs. And to make way in your budget for the good stuff, behold the mighty, mouthwatering plant-based recipes like this tart that keep your taste buds and wallet happy.
Happy ethical eating!
Lupini Bean and Pumpkin Seed Pesto
Prep Time: 90 minutes
Makes 8 servings
Gluten Free- Vegan- Nut Free
Tools needed: vitamix, food processor or blender
Ingredients:
Filling:
1 large shallot, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
3 ears of corn, with the corn kernels sliced off
1 cup of lupini beans (rinsed if you want less sodium)
5-6 medium tomatoes, plus 2-3 small differently colored tomatoes for decoration (optional)
¼ tsp dried chipotle
2 tbsp canola oil
Squeeze of lime
1/8 tsp paprika
Fresh cracked pepper
Crust:
2 cups of gluten free flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill baking cup for cup)
2 tbsp light brown sugar
½ cup of olive oil
½ cup coconut oil
¾ tsp sea salt
5 tbsp water
Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Either in a bowl by hand or in an electric mixer, mix the flour, oils, salt, sugar and water together until well-integrated and it forms a loose, easily crumbing dough. Press the dough into an ungreased springform tin, careful not to make the sides too high, and pre-bake for 15 minutes or until light color starts to come into the crust, and then remove. Do not allow the crust to brown at all. (If you’re using gluten-full flour, you can skip the pre-bake step and just set the pressed springform aside.)
2. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, add the canola oil, shallot, garlic and corn and sauté until the corn is lightly cooked and no longer crunchy. Add the chipotle and paprika, plus cracked pepper to taste, and a generous squeeze of lime.
3. In a blender or Vitamix (or equivalent), blend one cup of drained lupini beans until smooth. Add the rest of the corn filling to the blender and blend all together until it forms a puree. If your puree is too thick to blend or spread, you can add a small dribble of water or canola oil. It should be smooth and spreadable, like polenta or grits.
4. Spoon the filling into the pre-baked pie crust, careful to not crumble the delicate sides. Slice up the tomatoes and arrange them on top of the filling. Top with a sprinkling of fresh cracked pepper and chipotle.
5. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes (longer for gluten-full if you didn’t pre-bake), until the tomatoes start to pucker and the sides of the crust very lightly brown.
6. Remove from the oven and allow to fully cool. If serving right away, remove from the springform and enjoy!
Mix it up:
- Don’t feel like making this tart gluten-free? Swap for regular flour.
- Feel like going extra paleo or Whole 30? Just make yourself the lupini and corn filling with coconut oil instead of canola oil, and eat it by the bowl topped with fresh summer tomatoes and a drizzle of balsamic.
