I have a butternut squash sitting here because it looked good in the store, a couple of weeks ago. Now I'm afraid it's going to go bad. Butternut squash is good with so many things, I keep looking at it and saying to myself, I'll save it for tomorrow.
Tomorrow has arrived. I have the perfect recipe for a Butternut
Squash, Leek and Goat Cheese tart with a sage crust, to enjoy with a glass of chardonnay and salad as I look out on a gray day and the
cats slink around the house, crazy on catnip (I gave it to them out of pity since I wouldn't let them outside).
I got this recipe from the Venus Restaurant in Berkeley,
California via a letter in Bon Appetit, making a couple of minor adjustments.
They call their version a Butternut Squash Galette because in America,
if you fold a crust over the pie instead of putting it into a tart pan, it’s a
galette. Never mind that in France, galette is a word usually used to describe
cookies or very thin cakes. I wonder how we started using it for free-form
tarts in America. Like how we use the word “fond”-- in cooking school they told us it
meant the stuff at the bottom of the pan that you scrape up when making gravy.
But in French, the word for that stuff is “sucre” and “fond” means stock, as in
chicken stock. Go figure.
I have to call this variation a tart because I’m not folding
the crust over the filling. A free-form tart with a crust that folds over the
pie is pretty to look at and gives you a nice big chunk of pie crust, which is
yummy and filling when it's made with gluten flours. But gluten free, to get it to work it will be
full of starch with little nutrition, so I save that for desserts.
Instead, I make a sage butter crust with Pamela's Baking& Pancake Mix which is an awesome gluten-free mix to have in
the kitchen, for things like gravies (it gives a better flavor and texture than
just using corn starch), carrot cake and dutch pancakes.
For the most part, I don’t use pre-made gluten-free mixes. But in a few cases, it works brilliantly,
like this crust. Pamela’s mix has almonds and brown rice flour in it, and makes
a crust with just the right crumbly texture to go with the filling. Plus, no
rolling – just press the crust into the pan.
The original recipe doesn’t specify an exact measurement for the
leeks (it says “2 leeks”) and says “about 2 lbs.” for the squash; however, I
have made this pie numerous times since it appeared in Bon Appetit, and have
used various amounts depending on the size of the squash and leeks. My
conclusion is that too many leeks will ruin this pie! (My husband thinks it’s
always good no matter how it’s made, though.)
Sometimes I think restaurant chefs are vague in just the
places that they know are going to cause you to run into trouble. Then again, they could be trying to make it simple for home cooks.
And, maybe other people like a lot of leeks in this pie. But I'm betting they use more precision in the restaurant. In the limited time I spent working in kitchens, we pre-chopped large amounts, then measured the ingredients before putting them into the tarts to make sure each serving was uniform.
And, maybe other people like a lot of leeks in this pie. But I'm betting they use more precision in the restaurant. In the limited time I spent working in kitchens, we pre-chopped large amounts, then measured the ingredients before putting them into the tarts to make sure each serving was uniform.
So, I would love to be able to tell you that you can just
chop it all up and cook as-is, with a devil-may-care attitude. But trust me, in
this case it is worth your while to stick to the proportions below. When the
proportions are right, I do not think there is a better tart to be found, and
we can hardly keep it around after it is removed from the oven!
Butternut Squash Tart
Adapted from the Venus Restaurant in Berkeley, California
For best results, after slicing the squash put it into a
large 4-cup measuring cup to make sure you don’t go over 5 cups, and weigh the
leeks after they’re chopped. The scale I use is an Escali digital one.
For the crust:
1-1/2 cups Pamela's
Baking & Pancake Mix
1 tablespoon
chopped sage
4 tablespoons cold
unsalted butter, cut into 16 or so squares, plus more for the pie pan
2 tablespoons no-taste
oil
1/4 cup ice water
For the filling:
1 2+ lb. butternut
squash, peeled and cut into 2 inch x ¼ inch slices (4-5 cups)
3 tablespoons
olive oil
½ teaspoon fine
sea salt, plus a pinch
8 oz. cleaned and chopped
leeks (about 1 1/2 - 2 leeks, white and light green parts only)
6 oz. goat cheese
¼ teaspoon ground
pepper
First, make the
crust: Combine Pamela's Baking & Pancake Mix and sage in a
bowl. Cut butter into flour mixture with two knives (or better yet, get
yourself a pastry blender) until butter is in very small pieces. Add oil, then
ice water, slowly until dough comes together, but not sticky. Press dough into a
buttered 9-inch pie pan with fingers, the thinner the better. Place the crust
in refrigerator while making the filling.
Roast the butternut squash: Preheat the oven to 500F. Toss
the squash with 1 tablespoon olive oil and ½ teaspoon fine sea salt. Arrange in
one layer into 17 x 12 inch shallow baking pan, and roast for 10 minutes, then
flip pieces over and roast for another 10 minutes until slightly browned on the
bottom and softened. Let cool and put into a mixing bowl and turn down the oven
temperature to 375F.
Meanwhile, sauté the leeks in 2 tablespoons olive oil with a pinch of salt in a heavy cast iron skillet over medium heat, slightly covered (this is important), until they are soft and somewhat transparent. (If you don’t slightly cover the pan, they won’t steam and soften properly, but be careful not to overcook.)
Put the cooked leeks into the mixing bowl with the squash,
add the goat cheese and ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper and toss well.
Place the filling into the refrigerated crust and bake at
375F for 25 minutes, then cover with aluminum foil and bake for 10-15 more
minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.
