These Vegan Olive Tomato & Basil Swirls are packed with lovely Mediterranean flavours and the perfect way to show off the fruity flavour of Olive Oil. They are dairyfree & eggfree and can be easily adapted for coeliacs by using glutenfree puff pastry! These swirls are perfect for picnics, afternoon tea or for allergy & vegan friendly canapes for a party! The vegan cheese is optional, it acts like a seasoning, so if you leave it out you may need to add a little salt to the olive mixture.
Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease the holes of a muffin tin or line a baking tray with reusable silicone. ( I use Bake-o-glide) For these I generally use a flat bottomed muffin tin because then the swirls hold their swirly shape. The only downside is that if they are too wide they then puff out the top too and apparently end up looking like unicorn swirls!
Next for the filling. Into a food processor put the olives, garlic, red onion, tomatoes, black pepper and vegan parmesan. Pulse until it is still a little bit chunky and scrape the sides of the processor down with a spatula.
Turn the food processor back on and while it is running drizzle in the Olive Oil. Leave running for a few minutes until a thick paste forms - you can leave this with a bit of texture in it. Put this to one side while you sort out the pastry!
For the pastry, cut into two blocks. Roll each block out into a rectangle - make sure the pastry is thin as it will puff up in the oven and you don't want your swirls to unroll. Well unless you have a hungry hoard of Peachicks around who will make them disappear for you!
Spread half the olive mixture on each rectangle and roll them up... you want to roll the long edge - you end up with a long thin swirly log not a short fat one!
With a sharp bread knife cut each log into 8 pieces and arrange them on your chosen baking tray. Bake for 20mins - or until the pastry is cooked through. I have a fan oven that can be a bit OTT so you may need a few extra minutes!
These will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days ready for lunchboxes!