Friday, January 13, 2012

Butternut & Chorizo Tart

Helloooooo out there!  All of a sudden it’s been like a week and I haven’t had anything to blog about!  That’s what happens when I spend my days eating salad or take-out…nothing exciting to share!

OK, I should share the amazing Butter Chicken Poutine I had the other day, but that’s not what we’re here for now is it?  Tease.  Yep.

Instead I have the first of two recipes involving this bigass bad boy.

IMG_5397

Michael sent me home with this butternut squash last weekend in the hopes that I’d turn around and bring it back all cooked up in a soup or some such thing.  Well, lucky boy…it was so big I came up with two things for him.

Thanks to Twitter friends I was inspired to tackle a Butternut Squash Tart.  Well, my lazy variation of a tart anyway.  Let’s just say I’m not friends with homemade pastry just yet…

The suggestion that came my way from Rayna was caramelized onions and goat cheese. Yesssss.  I don’t know about you but I love the flavour combination of chorizo sausage with butternut as well, so I decided to just work all of those ideas into one recipe…and let me tell ya, I felt like a genius for doing it!

squash_tart

Butternut Squash Tart with Chorizo, Onion & Goat Cheese

inspired by Epicurious

yields: 8 servings

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups roasted butternut squash
  • 150 grams bulk chorizo sausage (2 links removed from skin)
  • 2 small onion, halved and thinly sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 4-6 leaves fresh sage, chiffonade
  • 1 tbsp olive oil (plus extra for brushing roasting squash)
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1/3 cup heavy/whipping cream
  • (water for thinning)
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • sprinkle cayenne if desired
  • 1/4 cup fresh parmesan cheese, coarsely grated
  • 60 grams (2 oz.) creamy goat cheese
  • 1 pre-made pie crust

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Remove frozen pie crust from tin plate and set into glass pie pan to thaw while preparing filling.
  2. In a non-stick skillet over medium heat brown the chorizo, breaking it apart with a wooden spoon if necessary.  Cook until crumbly and no longer pink in the middle.  Remove from skillet and set aside.
  3. In the same skillet heat the olive oil and butter together over medium heat.  When hot add onions and stir to coat.  Sautee until becoming translucent, then add garlic and stir.  Continuing sautéing until onions and garlic start to brown, then add sage.  Stir and continue cooking until everything becomes golden and caramelized.  Remove from heat and set aside.
  4. In a food processor or good blender puree the roasted squash (may need a little water to help it along).  Add egg, egg yolk and cream and continue pureeing until smooth.
  5. Pour squash mixture into a large mixing bowl.  Add sausage, parmesan, oregano, salt, pepper, and cayenne (if using).  Stir to incorporate.  Add onion mixture (reserve a few tablespoons), stir again.
  6. Scoop about half of the filling into the pie crust, spread evenly.  Sprinkle with dollops of goat cheese.  Add remaining filling, spread evenly.  Top with remaining goat cheese and reserved onion mixture for decoration.  Sprinkle with cracked pepper.
  7. Bake tart for 30 minutes until crust is browned and filling has set.  Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

squash_tart_collageIMG_5425

I have to tell you a secret…  I don’t even really like butternut squash all that much.  It’s like this weirdly overrated Winter food that everyone goes crazy over, but every time I have it I’m always underwhelmed.

Well, apparently roasting it is the key because I am pretty much in love with this.  Never mind the chorizo, cream and two cheeses in there helping tasty it up…shhhh.  And those onions….oooooh, those caramelized onions.

IMG_5429

Best part about this recipe?  According to MyFitnessPal a serving of this seemingly rich deliciousness is only around 200 calories! 

Obviously this would be even better with a homemade crust if I wasn’t afraid of pastry. If you’ve got a good idiot proof one for me, please share.

Pin It

2 comments:

Tarilyn said...

I just made my first pie EVER this week, which was Smitten Kitchen's apple pie. It turned out perfectly. I was terrified to make a double crusted pie (I followed her tip and didn't do the lattice top), and it was pretty easy, and soooo delicious!

JavaChick said...

I don't like squash at all...Except for this squash creole that my mom makes which has bacon, onion, tomatoes, oregano and cheese and it ends up not tasting like squash. Disguising it seems to be the way to go.