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

Start with the onions, as the lower, longer and slower you cook them the better. Place in a lidded frypan or saucepan, drizzle over the oil and sugar. They don’t have to be on one layer but you don’t want them too piled up (ie. more than 5cm/2″). Cover, turn heat to low (the lowest setting you have!), and stir every five minutes, scraping any bits that stick to the pan. The stuck bits should come off and should be very dark brown/almost black, but will come off. If it stays stubbornly stuck in a large black patch you’ve been naughty and turned the heat up too high :P Patience!! Let it do it’s thing while you prep everything else. Once golden, stir through the thyme and balsamic, and continue cooking until deep brown, then turn off heat and let sit uncovered.

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

Using a fork, pastry cutter or food processor, cut (or pulse) the butter into the flour until there are no bits bigger than a small pea. Dribble in water, stir with fork (or pulse) until you get mostly scraggly bits but no dry flour hangin around on its own. Dribble in a few more drops of water to bring the scraggly bits together, to form a soft dough.

Optional, for super flakiness: Press into a ball, flatten and roll out on a well floured working surface into a rectangular shape. Fold like a letter, then fold the letter in half so you get a square-y shape, then flatten.

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)

Toss pumpkin and oil into a roasting pan large enough to accommodate the pumpkin on one layer with a bit of room for moving. Stir/toss to coat with oil, and bake on the top rack of your oven for 20 minutes, until a knife inserted meets barely any resistance and the edges are slightly browned. Once at this point, set aside.

There might be a wee bit of ho-humming at this stage, where you can clean up the kitchen a bit. Once your tart case is nice and cold, place a sheet of foil or baking paper over, tucking it into the corners nicely, and pour a hearty layer of dried beans, rice or baking weights into the foil. Bake on the centre rack 15 minutes before removing the foil & beans etc (these can be reused), then pop back into the oven for another 5-10 minutes to dry the centre of the pastry out.

By now your onions should be nice and brown and the pumpkin done. Toss pumpkin and olives into the onions, stir and pour into your pastry case. Sprinkle with cheese, reduce oven temp to 190C (375F) and bake for about 30 minutes. I wanted my cheese still a bit gooey but keep baking if you want it golden and crispy.

Remove from tart tin and let cool on a rack for a few minutes before digging into it. I forgot to, but garnish with fresh thyme leaves if you have them on hand :)

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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!