Green Pea Hummus Tartine
5 from 1 vote

This green pea hummus tartine with grilled asparagus is a beautiful way to celebrate springtime! It’s fresh, lemony, and beautiful. Try it for a light lunch or satisfying snack.

Two small, white appetizer plates carry a vegan green pea hummus tartine, topped with lemon zest and fleur de sel.

Each year, I wait for springtime to arrive so that I can enjoy my fresh and vibrant green pea hummus! It has a beautiful color, it’s easy to make, and it’s a sweet, lemony spin on the bean based dip that I love so much.

I love my green pea hummus even more when it’s part of this lovely pea hummus tartine with grilled asparagus. The tartine is an easy lunch or snack that feels elegant. And it’s a perfect way to showcase spring produce.

What is a tartine?

Technically speaking, a tartine is a slice of bread with sweet or savory toppings. Colloquially, it tends to refer to an open-faced sandwich.

This tartine consists of toast, the green pea hummus, and grilled asparagus. It could be simplified with the use of a raw vegetable topping, rather than a grilled vegetable. You can also choose to skip the vegetable altogether.

How to make green pea hummus tartines

Preparing this recipe is simple. I begin by making the green pea hummus. Note that you may have more hummus than is needed to prepare the pea hummus tartine. You can store the leftover hummus for up to five days in an airtight container the fridge.

Next, I grill aspagarus for the tartines. I use a nonstick grill pan for this, as I don’t have access to a proper, outdoor grill. I recommend choosing asparagus spears that are as thin as possible, so that they’ll grill quickly!

Finally, I spread the hummus over two slices of toast. I top them with slices of the asparagus and get down to the business of eating.

I suppose that this tartine breaks one of the seven commandments of tartine making, which is to avoid big pieces of vegetables. But honestly, I think it’s kind of fun to eat, even if it’s messy. And if you grill the asparagus well, it’s tender enough to bite into.

If you happen to be working with woody or very thick pieces of asparagus, you can chop them into pieces, rather than laying them on the bread flat!

An angled photograph of a tartine made with green pea hummus and grilled asparagus spears. It rests on a white plate and white surface.

What bread is best for the green pea hummus tartine?

The only rule of thumb on bread selection, in my opinion, is to use a bread that’s sturdy. This isn’t the time for thinly sliced or delicate bread!

I’d recommend a thick, rustic slice of classic white sandwich bread, sourdough, or my easy multigrain bread. The latter is my favorite for this recipe. If I don’t have time to make homemade bread, I also love using a sprouted grain bread, such as the breads from One Degree Organics, Silver Hills Bakery, Dave’s Killer Bread, or Food for Life.

Additional toppings and garnishes

There are so many ways to modify the tartine if you don’t have asparagus at home. Try cucumber slices, radish slices, slices of roasted beet, additional peas, roasted chickpeas, or essentially any other vegetable you would like.

Cashew parmesan cheese is a wonderful way to garnish the pea hummus tartine. So is a sprinkle of chopped, fresh spring herbs, a squeeze of freshly squeezed lemon juice, some lemon zest, or flaky salt.

Asparagus spears have been grilled and piled onto toast with a creamy topping. They're garnished with dill, lemon zest, and flaky salt.
Two small, white appetizer plates carry a vegan green pea hummus tartine, topped with lemon zest and fleur de sel.
5 from 1 vote

Green Pea Hummus Tartine

Author – Gena Hamshaw
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Yields: 4 servings

Ingredients

Green pea hummus

  • 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (1 14.5-ounce can, drained and rinsed)
  • 1 1/3 cups fresh or frozen green peas (defrosted according to instructions if frozen and blanched if fresh)
  • 3 tablespoons tahini
  • 2-3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (to taste)
  • 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt (more to taste)
  • 1 clove garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 1/4 cup water

Tartines

  • 1 small bunch asparagus, trimmed (thinner stalks are preferable)
  • avocado oil spray (substitute another cooking oil spray)
  • 8 slices bread of choice
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • lemon zest, flaky salt, chopped fresh herbs (optional toppings)

Instructions

  • Heat up your grill pan over medium high heat as you prepare the hummus.
  • To make the green pea hummus, place all hummus ingredients into a food processor fitted with the S blade. Process till very smooth and creamy, 2-3 minutes, stopping a few times to scrape the bowl down. If the hummus is overly thick for your liking, you can thin it with 1-2 tablespoons of additional water.
  • Grill the asparagus stalks for about 8-10 minutes, flipping periodically as you go, or until they're cooked through and have grill marks. Alternately, you can steam, bake, or roast the asparagus stalks.
  • Trim the crust from the bread, if that's your preference. Spread each slice of bread with a few tablespoons of green pea hummus. Top with the grilled asparagus spears. Sprinkle with lemon zest, sea salt, and fresh herbs, if you wish. Enjoy!
Two round, white plates are laid out on a white surface. They're being used to serve toast with a creamy pea spread and grilled asparagus spears.

This recipe is proof that a really elegant dish can come together with minimal fuss!

If you’re really pressed for time, you can make the hummus in advance of preparing the tartine.

No matter what, I hope you’ll enjoy this springtime treat.

xo

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Categories: Hummus, Main Dishes
Ingredients: Chickpeas

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    28 Comments
  1. That New York Times article really makes veganism seem impossible! But then again, I am aware I live in an area where many restaurants provide vegan options not just vegetarian.

    This looks great. I might try it out this week using some old frozen peas from CSA last year.

  2. I have a serious obsession with hummus… This recipe is clearly my favorite which made me wonder if I’m weird for making this twice a month… I spread it on pumpernickel bread and add fresh cucumber slices and dried chives… Easiest, most delicious takeaway and my favorite dinner! Thanks Gena!

  3. These were amazing! I brought them to a family party and they were the only thing that there were no leftovers for. It was requested that I bring them to the next party too. Excellent recipe and I especially love that I have some leftover hummus to eat tomorrrow! As always, thanks for another delicious recipe!

  4. Wow. All that article seems to be saying is that veganism is a pain in the butt… not a very profound contribution to a conversation about what we put in our bodies and why. And, guess what, the health problems that can come from the SAD are also a big pain in the butt!!

  5. i just made this with Brussels sprouts, i didn’t have any asparagus on hand. So good! keep the quick and easy recipes coming, absolutely love them.

  6. Dear Gena,
    I don’t have the habit of leaving comments to blogs, and in fact – this just might be my first one ever. Just wanted to thank you for all the support and energy you invest in inspiring quality vegan cuisine and fighting prejudice.
    I live in a small Balkan country where vegetarian community is indeed tinny. Quite often I am faced with challenges of having to defend my vegetarian lifestyle, and don’t even get me started on those cheesy jokes on vegetarianism! I especially appreciate the fact that almost all of your recipes are made from scratch. Vegetarian friendly and gluten free products are quite rare on our market so I am stuck with “do it yourself” option anyway. Good luck with your exams. With such devotion you demonstrate running this blog, I am sure you will make it, career wise 🙂

  7. This reminds me of a yummy puff pastry, cream cheese, and asparagus tartine I had once- but yours is healthy, cruelty-free, and looks even more delicious! I can’t wait to try it!

  8. I’m enchanted with tartines of late! As it turns out, my newest (and maybe my prettiest) cookbook is called La Tartine Gourmande. I can’t really recommend it to you as it’s not remotely vegan (it’s French – minimalist French but French all the same). On other hand, it is gluten free (a nice surprise as it’s deliberately not marketed as a gluten free cookbook). The author, whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, is a kindred spirit. Concerned with health but not at the expense of pleasure. Living proof (like many of her compatriots) that one can eat dessert every day and still beam with health. Finally, the whole aesthetic dimension of food is hugely important to me, and her cooking demonstrates that making beautiful food requires mindfulness, not time, not fancy gadgets, not long lists of ingredients.

    There are so-called ED behaviors that uncoupled from the obsession are really harmless, and I’d put savoring one’s food in this category. I could continue this comment – as you’ve probably gleaned, I resent very much the imposition of cultural norms onto the recovery paradigm – why I find your “Green Recovery” series so refreshing. Another time.

  9. I just had that tartine at LPQ the other day. I’m happy to see you’ve recreated it. I have a bag of peas in my freezer that almost never gets any action, but now I don’t have an excuse. Did you see the other NY times article from Tuesday about veganism during pregnancy and while breast-feeding? Boy oh boy, what is it with NYT being so ornery lately about alternative lifestyle interests like yoga and plant-based diets?

    • Sarah,

      Nina Planck is a longtime hater of plant-based diet, and she is a remarkably biased one. Many of her statements are loaded with misinformation, and it’s a shame that she aims specifically to unnerve parents. But at least the Times printed a variety of opinions on the topic!

      G

  10. Susan Voisin of FatFreeVegan posted a comment about the NY Times article and asked readers to leave a comment stating whether or not they agree or disagree that being vegan can be challenging. I highly recommend anyone to read all of the comments because it’s eye-opening. As I said in my comment, it’s obvious to me that we shouldn’t assume that becoming and staying vegan is either easy or hard for everyone, but that it varies. A lot of vegans want to convince others that being vegan is easy. But the fact is that there are a lot of people out there who find it challenging, as evidenced by the many people who said so in their comments. I don’t think trying to tell everyone that it’s easy is a good idea because if they have a hard time sticking with it, they’ll think something is wrong with them for not finding it easy. Also, it may encourage black and white thinking, that if someone can’t be 100% vegan then they won’t try at all. Importantly, I don’t think the people who try to be vegan for ethical reasons find it any easier than those who try to be vegan solely for health reasons. Someone with either reason could find it hard or easy. I myself am a perfect example of a person who, (for ethical reasons) went vegetarian and attempted total veganism for over four years, yet despite my strong convictions found myself eating dairy occasionally. I find now that I am fully OK with never being 100% vegan and no longer feel guilty when eating foods with dairy. Now that there’s no guilt, I naturally eat far less dairy, which is ironic!
    As for the recipe, the sweet pea hummus looks awesome! My next hummus will be this one!

    • Fiona,

      I certainly don’t mean to imply that it’s a piece of cake for everyone! It’s not. The challenges are real, which is why blogs like mine exist: to help people develop more confidence in the face of social criticism, cope with cravings by developing new tastes, and get over some of the longing for past favorites with amazing recipes. I get that the transition is bumpy, and I try to help.

      My problem with the article was that it felt exclusively negative. Of course it did! Pope was setting out to talk about the drawbacks and challenges. But I didn’t feel as if it did enough to underscore the other side of the coin, and balance of that sort is a journalistic necessity. Additionally, I didn’t feel that it underscored all of the reasons why it might be good to push through the tough moments in spite of how challenging they are.

      But no, it’s not always easy, and there is nothing wrong with cravings, struggles, loss of faith, bad days, and so on. We’ve all been there; I just think that those things can be surmounted with enough support and time.

      G

      • Thanks for your reply! I definitely feel that your blog has helped me develop new tastes (for raw food specifically) and also helped me get to the place where I am now, where I don’t feel bad saying no to foods that I truly don’t want, even under pressure.
        Also, I couldn’t be sure, but when I read through your post again it looked like you had re-written the paragraph about the NY Times article a little. Maybe I’m wrong, but I didn’t remember reading the line about how the challenges of transitioning to a vegan diet can be rivaled–and hopefully surpassed–by the joys and pleasures of its food. I like that! That’s a keeper of a quote; I am going to copy and paste that into a document I keep of quotes I like. 🙂 And thank you for acknowledging that it can be challenging for some of us!

        • I added that line specifically for you! And changed “incorrectly” to “unfairly.” I love when my readers inspire me to soften a stance or show nuance in my thinking, which is what you did. Grazie.

          • Well, I really like the changes you made! And you have inspired changes in my thinking too, with your thoughtful posts on vaccinations and other topics, so grazie to you too! 🙂

    • This hummus rocks! I used more like 1.5 cupe garbanzo beans, 3/4 cups frozen peas (that I microwaved), 1/4 tsp cumin, no garlic or lemon zest, and 1/4 cup tahini. Definitely repeating this one! Thanks!

  11. That post really got under my skin yesterday…it was so unbalanced! This recipe, however, is the perfect reaction. 🙂

  12. Easy peasy! You!!! But who said vegan is a lot of work? Yes, you have to be conscious of what you eat, but if you want to eat any kind of healthy you have to be conscious. Vegan (I think) is some of the easiest, no-brain, hardest to mess up food there is.

    I’m so glad you’re finding elegant and delicious ways to keep yourself fueled for your incredible schedule–and good luck with all that!
    love
    Ela