Squash, Goats' Cheese & Sage Tart, with Parmesan and Hazelnut Pastry
Roasted squash feels like the very essence of winter - sweet, comforting and nourishing. It’s a feel-good ingredient, and our Director of Food, Joey O’Hare, is here to show you how to make this show-stopping vegcentric tart.
However, the pastry is the real star of the show! It’s made with rye flour, parmesan and roasted hazelnuts. It’s buttery, biscuity and nutty; so follow the link below, to discover how you can make this crumbly goodness.
The Details & Ingredients…
Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 75 mins
Recipe sufficient for 6 servings, or a deep-fill 20 cm tart case
Ingredients for Pastry:
125 g rye flour
125 g spelt flour
125 g cold butter, diced
30 g parmesan, grated
20 g roasted hazelnuts
1 egg (yolk used in pastry, white used to egg-wash the tart)
2 tbsp cold water
Ingredients for Tart Filling:
1 small pumpkin / butternut squash (approximately 400-500g once prepped)
2 tbsp olive oil
4 eggs
125 ml cream (or 65 ml crème fraîche, and 65 ml whole milk)
16-20 sage leaves
2 tsp flakey sea salt
¼ tsp black pepper
70 g goats’ cheese or blue cheese
20 g hazelnuts
Freshly grated nutmeg, optional
Chilli flakes, optional
The Method
Start by roasting the squash for the filling. Preheat the oven to 190C. Slice your squash into even-ish wedges, toss lightly with olive oil and 1 teaspoon of flakey sea salt, spread evenly on a lined baking sheet, and roast in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until soft and slightly charred in places.
Note, if you need to roast the hazelnuts for the pastry, do so now. Roast for 5-7 minutes until golden.
Next, prepare the pastry. Chop the hazelnuts until a fine ‘nibbed’ texture is achieved. Sieve the flours into a large mixing bowl and add the nibbed hazelnuts, sea salt and grated parmesan. Rub in diced butter using your fingertips until the flour mix resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Now add the egg yolk and 2 tablespoons of cold water just to bring the pastry together. Try to handle things as little as possible to avoid the dough becoming tough. Keep the egg white to egg wash the tart case later.
Lightly flour your work surface and roll out the dough until roughly 1 cm thick, no thicker. Note: this will be crumbly pastry and drier than normal to work with… it’s a bit of a playdough job (!) to line the tart case… doable but not the neatest process to witness. Try and press the pastry into an even layer across the base and up the sides, and trim the top neatly. Pop this in the fridge for 45 mins, or the freezer for 10 minutes.
Turn the oven down to 180C. Line your chilled pastry case with a circle of parchment paper and fill with baking beans. Blind bake for 12 minutes, then remove the paper and baking beans, egg wash the tart case all over with the beaten egg white, and bake for a further 12-14 minutes until golden.
Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Finely chop the majority of the sage leaves and crumble or chop the goats’ cheese. Whisk together the cream, 4 eggs, a generous seasoning of salt and pepper, and the chopped sage. Roughly chop the hazelnuts.
Set your tart case on a flat baking tray first, then layer it up with roasted pumpkin, crumbled goats’ cheese, and the sage custard mix. Fill the case right to the top then garnish with the final bits of cheese, chopped hazelnuts, some extra sage leaves tossed lightly in olive oil, and either freshly grated nutmeg or some chilli flakes.
Carefully return the tart to the oven and bake for 20-22 until lightly golden on top, and only the faintest ‘wobble’ remains in the centre of the tart. Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing.
Enjoy with a seasonal salad, perhaps leeks & lentils vinaigrette as we’ve shown here, and a chilled glass of zippy, buttery Chenin Blanc.
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