Savory pumpkin tart, take 2
Two years ago I posted about this pumpkin feta and spinach “thing.” It must have been late when I wrote up the post or something, because quite obviously it’s just a tart. Anyway, it got a mention in Saveur magazine online, in the US. It was (and still is) a really big deal for me getting published in any magazine (even just online), let alone one half way across the world! This time of year it gets a steady stream of views because everyone in the US is crazily looking for an autumn (or “fall”) pumpkin recipe that’s not dessert-related! Being a very fickle foodie, I haven’t made that tart since (I like to try new food things), but last night my cravings met the contents of my fridge/pantry and produced a really wonderful alteration:
Given how rich and sweet it is, I thought I’d play up the sweetness of the pumpkin a bit more this time with balsamic-kissed caramelised onions, thyme and finally, kalamata olives to remind the palate that this is still a savoury tart! A light sprinkling of cheese went on top for a bit of extra protein, but you could easily use chickpeas if you’re trying to keep things light. I went with a super thin crust this time to add a bit more crispiness to an otherwise very soft filling. I also had crispy roast potatoes and some unadorned miner’s lettuce from the garden. Sometimes really fresh greens are enough on their own (sans dressing) to perfectly balance a rich meal, as Alessandra also notes in this post about a beautiful asparagus salad.
I realise pumpkin isn’t the most springy vegetable (to say the least!), but there is still plenty of it kicking around at my local Farmers’ Market. Eating seasonal for me has stopped being about following strict lists and simply reflects what happens to be available from the actual people growing my food nearby. Pumpkin is always fairly affordable here, and I’ve gotten mine almost weekly from this wee semi-organic, mostly spray-free stall for the last few weeks. It’s just crown pumpkin, but it’s amazing – sweet, yielding, not floury and dry (even when roasted), but not too mushy either. Pick pumpkin which is deeply orange, not the stuff that’s borderline yellow – it’ll not be very sweet at all and be watery and not worth the time and effort you put into this.
Lastly, I urge you to make the pastry yourself, especially this one which is really unfussy, and delicious. I suppose you could use a store bought butter puff pastry, but it won’t turn out as crispy/crunchy, and this one has a touch of wholemeal flour for added crispiness, flavour and good-for-you-points.
Savoury pumpkin tart, with balsamic-kissed caramelised onions, kalamata olives & thyme
makes one 9″ tart
Caramelised onions
- 2 regular sized onion, sliced thinly along the lines
- drizzle of cooking oil
- about 1 tsp blond cane, or light brown, sugar
- about 1 tsp balsamic vinegar (more if you want, cheap stuff is fine here)
- about 1/2 tsp dried thyme or 1 tsp fresh
- about 1 Tbs juice from draining the olives
Now that that’s going, preheat your oven to 200C (400F).
Crust – feel free to use your go-to recipe, but this one’s really easy and not at all fussy
- 50g cold butter, cubed
- about 2/3c plain flour
- about 1/4c wholemeal flour (pref stoneground) – or sub plain flour if you don’t have any
- salt if using unsalted butter
- 1 Tbs very cold water to start
Dust with more flour, and roll out until about 11″ and very thin (you may need to keep dusting it with flour so it doesn’t stick to your counter, that’s normal). Slot into your tart pan, and place in the freezer for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile prep your other filling ingredients:
Other filling ingredients
- about 2 1/2 c peeled cubed deep orange pumpkin (no more than 1″ wide) + dash oil
- just under 1 c pitted kalamata olives
- handful grated cheese (optional)
Currently Clickalicious
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Foodie Favourite at the moment
Making my own grissini! Alessandra’s book Party Food for Girls reminded me how yummy the home made version can be! I had some tired olive oil dough lying around that was smelling a bit alcohol-y (woops…forgot about it in the back of the fridge), but the grissini were still super tasty! No trace of alcoholy flavour, but the richness from the loooong fermentation was still there. You can make them really grainy and healthy but they still taste crunchy and great. Wonderful for picnic season since you don’t have to bring a knife to cut a loaf open, plus there is something nice about their dip-friendly shape :) Obviously they bake really quickly too. As Alessandra notes in her book you can bake them twice if you want them to stay crunchy.
EDIT: So excited to be featured on Freshly Pressed (the wordpress home page when wordpress users log in)! Thank you to Erica & the team at WordPress for the honour :D My terror upon checking my inbox this morning quickly turned into excitement! Have also found some awesome blogs just by browsing through all the lovely likers and commenters. Win win!
We state siders really do say autumn too! Anyway, great recipe for fall, ha!
This looks beautiful. Congrats on the Saveur coverage!
Looks delicious :) Last night I made the regular sweet pumpkin pie to kick off the holiday season here in the US. I also made a ham asparagus pot pie for dinner (because not everyone in my house will eat pumpkin pie for dinner – who knew!) I’m also a make-it-once type of cook and like to make new dishes as much as possible.
Congrats on being published again on Freshly Pressed, however Saveur is a much bigger deal I say!
I’ve been looking for something different to do with pumpkin this year, this might be the perfect recipe to try! Thanks for sharing!
Woo hoo, you’re Freshly Pressed. Very cool!
This looks so delicious!
Anything with caramelized onions and pumpkin = AWESOME in my book — thank you for the recipe!
I’ll eat pretty much anything with pumpkin, but this looks especially amazing. Thanks for sharing!
~Stop Me if You’ve Heard This One
Really awesome!! I will definitive try it soon.. :-D
Wow, beautiful photographs and recipe!
yum! looks so good!
I love sweet potatoes and pumpkins – but they’re so often highlighted for sweet desserts. This looks like a great meal! I’m excited to try it. -abi
This looks absolutely divine! Thanks so much for the post!
Oooh… that DOES look yummy!
Love it!! Will cook it!!
Sounds delicious! I recently made my own pumpkin pulp for the first time, not realizing exactly how much I would end up with. I’ve made more muffins and soups than I thought possible. And just when I thought I was ready for a long break from the orange stuff, along comes your amazing tart. Looking forward to trying it!
Pumpkins are my all time favorite. This dish looks delicious
thanks for Sharing.
I love the take on something different to do with pumpkin! looking forward to making it. Thanks for sharing it again.
i really have to buy a pumpkin NOW!!!
This looks so good! I’ve been looking around for some new and creative pumpkin recipes for autumn, and this one has some of my favorite ingredients! Sean will go crazy for the kalamata olives, too! :) Thanks for the great recipe!
This looks so stinkin’ tasty! If it wasn’t for the fact that I am on a cleanse then I’d for sure be making this over the weekend!
Beautiful blog!
Amanda
http://www.bullfrogsandbulldogs.com/
Beautiful pictures and a fabulous recipe! Thanks for sharing!
Interesting pumpkin with olives. Who would have thought?
I’m more familiar….with my mother’s stir fried/sauteed (savoury) butternut squash. With onions, garlic and ginger root. A jot of soy sauce at beginning of cooking squash, actually accentuates the natural sweetness of squash which I’m happy to carry on the tradition.
http://cyclewriteblog.wordpress.com/2011/03/11/butternut-squash-chic-carrying-on-stir-fried-memories/
So maybe that’s what olives do for pumpkin? Good to have a recipe to get people thinking of possibilities.
Congrats on getting ‘pressed’ in/on Saveur magazine! Very cool. (And well-deserved.)
What a fabulous and wholesome pumpkin recipe and beautiful photos.
I’m also partial to the love of spoons. ;)
This looks amazing! I love pumpkin and am always looking for more ways to use it in regular foods, especially because it is so nutritious. Can’t wait to try this!
That looks great! Pumpkin is basically a squash so it can be utilized in a lot of ways other than pie.
This sounds so good. I love kalamatas and all orange vegetables. Pumpkins are in season in California, as are all the winter squashes, and you don’t have to ask me twice for me to make anything resembling a tart, quiche or pie. Nice to find you through Freshly Pressed. — Sharyn
Had something like that at the in-laws last weekend … It was fantastic, but yours sounds even better ;), well … maybe minus the onions
it’s nearly midnight, and all i can think about is shoveling spoon fulls of pumpkin tart into my mouth. man! i don’t know if i should thank you for the recipe or complain about my current drooling situation :)
Thank you for sharing the recipe! The pictures are superb and the dish looks amazing! I’m usually a little hesitant to eat pumpkin, but this dish is an enticement waiting to happen! Great job!
If it is okay with you, I would like to mention my own blog that I just started and share the link with your readers. It’s called Logic Meets Reason and it would be great if you and your readers could comment, subscribe, and take a look at the pieces I have posted! Here is the link: http://www.logicmeetsreason.wordpress.com.
Yum!
It looks scrumptious
Savory pumpkin tart, dishes are very tempting and delicious.
Yummy yummy….I’m gonna let my wife see this post now so she can make this soon…:D
Sounds delicious…though wondering if I could replace the olives with something else?
This looks so good – With all the pumpkins in my house its defo something I am gonna try – thanks for sharing!
Congrats on getting published!!!!!! That is fantastic! And the recipe sounds amazing! Love those late night recipe ideas!
Pumpkins are a fantastic vegetable. For me here in Australia we always tend to eat them as savoury. Though I have made a couple of sweet pumpkin pies, to us it seemed very unusual.
Thats the amazing thing about food and regions we all do such different things and get an amazing variety. I think your recipe looks absolutely delicious.
congratulations on being on freshly pressed your blog is amazing.
Lovely (and yes, we say autumn, too–I think “fall” became popular because it’s one syllable; lazy people!).
Looks delicious! You can’t beat a good tarte!
I can’t wait to try and make this myself. Amazing! Thank you for sharing!
This looks freaking delicious. I love savory pumpkin recipes! I recently made a savory pumpkin pizza recipe, with gruyere and walnuts. It was soooo tasty. If you ever consider making one, the recipe is on http://www.eggton.com.
Thanks again for posting!
Looks unbelievable. Great pictures!
I love how you style the food! I must try this soon! :D
Great Ideas…keep it up!
Great photos I should try to make this tart. Really looks delicious :) Many thanks for sharing the recipe :)
myum
Can’t wait to try the recipe! Looks and sound fantastic!
Amazing! I can’t wait to try it myself!!
This would be easy to do vegan. Will have to give this a try, especially come holiday-time. I also totally agree with you about eating natural on any budget…and I think your pictures look really great…warm, comforting, professional.
That looks completely amazing! Great post =D
Thank you for the double mention :-). I am glad that you like the grissini, and I think that the tarts looks wonderful, if there is still pumpkin around lets have it, and you will be in line with all the Northern Hemisphere blogs that are doing pumpkin and Fall now :-).
Have a good weekend
Alessandra
This looks great! I’ve been wanting to make a tart too, your pumpkin version looks absolutely smashing. Congrats on your Saveur feature too btw :)
This looks amazing! I’m absolutely itching to try it – this may just be the one meat-free recipe the boyfriend will love! Your photos are beautiful too – it’s little wonder I’m salivating like this with images like these!
Looks delicious!
Looks deelish, I love pumpkin! ^.^~
gosh i haven’t been here for too long, i absolutely LOVE the look of this tart! pumpkin is my favourite ingredient this season, can;t get enough of it (:
This is a brilliant recipe! A good change after seeing so many sweet tarts around:)
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