Caramelised Butternut Tart with Rosemary and Parmesan
Quick & easy family friendly tart made with roasted squash, crunchy pecans and salty parmesan.
Use any seasonal squash you can find, either butternut or pumpkins would work well as they tend to remain dry when roasted, ensuring the pastry stays crispy. In South Africa organic butternuts are actually around the whole year but pumpkins less so. In this recipe I used leftover pumpkin from this gorgeous recipe:
To roast butternut/pumpkins
Preheat the oven to 200c. Slice the butternut in half and each half into into 1 cm thick half-moon slices or you can simply use ready-diced packs. For pumpkins, I like to slice the pumpkin into wedges.
Place squash slices/wedges/cubes in a single layer on a roasting tray. Drizzle with olive oil and season liberally with salt and pepper. Roast for 15-20 min until just tender.
A note on shop-bough puff pastry
I urge you to make this tart with ALL BUTTER PUFF PASTRY (shop-bought) which is made using real butter. The vegan version unfortunately contains palm-oil & margarine-like ingredients which will just not taste the same. If you are unsure, have a good look at the ingredient label.
In South Africa a decent all butter pastry comes in 2 x 250g sheets rather than one large rectangular 320g.
A note on ingredients
- creme fraiche is a thick cultured cream, a bit like sour cream – just thicker. Alternatively, you can use a good really thick Greek yogurt too. I like this creme fraiche from Dalewood fromage, they deliver in Cape Town.
- an aged balsamic vinegar, for me, hits the right balance between acidity and slight sweetness. There are many versions of this classically made vinegar from Modena in Italy, but I like something a little thick and aged. A good aged sherry vinegar from Spain would also work.
A note on the sweetness of the tart
Roasting any veg, especially pumpkins/butternuts intensifies their sweetness, it’s important to offset the sweet with salty (parmesan) and acidic ingredients (balsamic vinegar and creme fraiche). The bitterness of the radicchio leaves and rocket is also a perfect way to cut through any sweetness.
Caramelised Butternut Tart with Rosemary and Parmesan
Ingredients
- 1 kg butternut/pumpkin
- 1 x 320g all-butter puff pastry or 2 x 250g pastry squares, see intro
- 1 cup creme fraiche
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin oilve oil more to drizzle
- 1 garlic clove grated
- salt & pepper
- 1 large sprig rosemary leaves
- 1 cup parmesan finely grated
- ½ cup pecan nuts roughly chopped
- aged balsamic vinegar/fresh lemon juice to serve
Side Salad
- 2 cups raddichio roughly torn into bitesize
- 1 cup wild rocket roughly torn into bitesize
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200c. Slice the butternut in half and each half into into 1 cm thick half-moon slices, peel the slices, alternatively simply use ready-diced packs.
- Place squash slices/wedges/cubes in a single layer on a roasting tray. Drizzle with olive oil and season liberally with salt and pepper. Roast for 15-20 min until just tender. Remove, either use the same baking paper for the tarts or line with new paper.
- In a small bowl, add the creme fraiche/yogurt, garlic and olive oil, season with salt & pepper
- Lay the pastry out flat on the lined baking tray(s) and carefully score a 1cm border around the edges, taking care not to cut through the pastry.
- Spread the creme fraiche/yogurt mix inside the border on the puff pastry. Add the chopped rosemary and the parmesan cheese (reserve some for the topping).
- Next cover the inside with the squash, followed by a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper. Scatter over the pecans and reserved cheese.
- Bake in the oven for 25/30 minutes or until the pastry is golden.
- While the tarts are cooking, dress the salad leaves with olive oil, salt, pepper and a few drizzles of the aged balsamic dressing or lemon juice, set aside.
- To serve drizzle the tarts with balsamic vinegar (or a squeeze lemon juice) and serve with the salad on the side. TIP: for me, cutting the tart with kitchen scissors works better than slicing with a knife. Enjoy!
