Butternut Squash Tart

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.

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.