Squash & Tomato Tart
You guys should know that I try to pretend that I am all tough, but on the inside I am just waiting for my next little treat. I don't know about you guys but I am holding on to fall produce for as long as I can and what better wait to satisfy my need for a little treat than a tart filled with miso garlic butter, sauteed cherry tomatoes and roasted squash.
The tart dough comes together by gently kneading cubes of cold butter, I am using vegan butter for this of course and by using the warmth of your hands to sort of integrate it into the dough to get a nice buttery flakey crust.
Then cover it in some miso garlic butter and pop her in the oven for a 5 minute blind bake before adding in this deliciously juicy tomato jam topped with acorn squash, spaghetti squash and red onion.
And naturally a savory tart like this deserves only the best, maldon flakey salt along with a nice olive oil and fresh thyme.
Squash & Tomato Tart
* Serves approx. 4 * Ingredients - Tart Dough
150 g - all-purpose flour
90 g - almond flour
90 g - cold vegan butter
20 g - ice cold water
1/2 tsp - fresh thyme
Ingredients - Miso Garlic Butter
2 tbsp - vegan butter
1 tbsp - miso
1/2 tsp - minced garlic
Ingredients - Tomato Jam
1 tbsp - vegan butter
1 tbsp - grapeseed oil
1/2 cup - diced yellow onions
1 tbsp - minced garlic
10 oz - cherry tomatoes ( one clamshell )
1 tsp - fresh thyme
1/2 tbsp - soy sauce
1 cup - white wine
1/2 tbsp - cornstarch + 1/2 cup water ( cornstarch slurry )
1/4 cup - fresh lemon juice
1/2 tbsp - cold vegan butter
salt & pepper to taste
Ingredients - Vegetables
1 - acorn squash
1/2 - butternut squash
1 - red onion
Optional Garnishes
Fresh Thyme
Nice Olive Oil
Maldon Flakey Salt
Tools you will need
Tart Pan
Strong Chef Knife
Cutting Board
Digital Scale
Large Mixing Bowl
Instructions
Step 1 - Gather all ingredients & scale out the tart dough ingredients
There is nothing worse than going to make something and realizing you don’t have the stuff ! Gather all the essential mise en place and with a scale, weigh out the tart dough ingredients.
To do this, I start out by scaling out the 20 grams of water. Place the cup on the scale, tare out the weight of the cup and measure out 20 grams of water. Do the same thing with the butter and then cut the butter into cubes. After this step I recommend putting them back in the fridge to stay as cold as possible. Place a bowl over the scale, tare out the weight of the bowl and go about weighing out the flour, almond sugar and thyme. Once this is done, grab the vegan butter and water. Add in the vegan butter cubes spread out over the flour in the bowl and with your hands, squish and crumble the mixture for a couple minutes until the mixture looks crumbly.
At this step, pour over the cold water and squish it all together with your hands and work the dough until a formed ball of everything is left. Pop this in the fridge to firm up and set a bit while the oven is preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Step 2- Make the garlic miso butter
Melt the vegan butter and stir in the miso and minced garlic. For this recipe you can use red or white miso just keep in mind that the red miso will give some extra color to the crust when baking.
Step 3 - Make the tomato jam
In a medium sized sauté pan, warm up some grapeseed oil and vegan butter and then add in the onions and sauté them till soft and golden. Once nice and golden, add in the minced garlic, sauté for a minute and then add in all the cherry tomatoes. Keep the heat on medium/low and all the tomatoes to blister a bit, pop and release all their flavor. Stir here and there for about 10 minutes and drizzle some soy sauce and add in the fresh thyme and then give it another good mix around to allow everything to combine well. Using the tip of your spatula or spoon, push on the tomatoes to help them along a bit to cook down. Bring the heat to medium if it was low and add in the white wine, allow this to cook down and reduce by at least half the liquid. Add in the fresh lemon juice along with the cornstarch slurry and stir this in really well and turn off the heat and allow everything to carry over cook in the warmth of the pan. To finish, add in a touch of cold vegan butter and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Step 4 - Roll out the tart dough
Make a work space for yourself to roll out the tart dough and sprinkle a bit of flour on the counter, roll out your tart dough to be a large circular shape around 10 inches across each way.
To pick it up and place it o er the tart pan, I use a rolling pin and bench scraper to lift the dough onto the rolling pin and from there lift it over the tart shell pan. Push the dough into the creases of the pan and with your fingers, tuck the dough into each nook and cranny. With a small knife, cut along the edge to remove the excess dough. Now to do a blind bake on the tart dough. All this means is to bake it a bit maybe 5 minutes so it isn’t raw. It will finish baking later after the tomato jam and squash has been added. For now, leave the tart shell to the side and cut the squashes !
Step 5 - Slice the squash
For this you are going to want a nice and strong chef knife or even a clever that is good for potatoes and pumpkins. Its on my personal wish list but for now a chef knife will do !
Cut each squash in half and scoop out the cuts and cut off the top and bottom, similar to maybe a cucumber ? Once the tops and bottoms are cut off and there is a nice uniform piece, slice thin slices from the butternut and acorn squash. This could be tough if you don’t have a sharp knife. Try to get slices that are not too thick otherwise they will take too long too cook and the tart shell could burn. Grab a large mixing bowl and add in all the sliced squash, add a bit of the miso garlic butter along with some salt and pepper. Give this a good toss and set to the side.
The last and simple thing is to cut the red onion. I ended up only needing half a red onion for this recipe so cut the onion in half and then cut off the top and bottom. Cut the onion into moon shaped like slices and set the onion to the side to assemble the tart.
Step 6 - Assemble the tart
First, with a pastry brush or maybe even a spoon. Rub around and spread the miso garlic butter over the crust and the edges.
With a spoon, spoon in the tomato jam and rub it all around and out to reach the edges where the crust is to cover the entire bottom of the tart shell. Now for the fun part, adding the squash. For this I simply alternated between spaghetti squash, acorn squash and red onion, going around in a circle building in layers till I got to the center. Kind of creating a rose petal effect.
Carefully pick up the tart by the edges. Not the bottom, otherwise everything will fall all over the place ( pro tip right here ) and pop it in the oven and bake for 25 minutes. When done and looking nice and golden, take it out and garnish with a drizzle of maybe a nice olive oil if you have some layin around and give a good sprinkle of salt and fresh thyme. Enjoy right away :) Leftovers can be enjoyed for maybe another 2 or 3 days.
