Roast squash and heirloom bean tart with pumpkin seed crust and shaved Brussels sprout salad with toasted pine nut dressing
POSTED ON November 25, 2014
For this year’s Thanksgiving-inspired post, I wanted to make something a bit different as a centerpiece; definitely not the usual vegetarian main. Creating a tart topped with wedges of roasted squash has been on my mind for years. This recipe is inspired by a photo in one of my oldest and favorite cookbooks called Nourish by Holly Davis. The book is not vegan or vegetarian but has a macrobiotic approach—for those of you who have my book, in the head notes of the Earl grey tea fruitcake I write about Holly’s former restaurant in Sydney.
This tart has a crisp, savory crust made with chickpea flour and a combination of other gluten free flours. It’s filled with a flavorful mixture of heirloom beans and caramelized onions. If you don‘t have heirloom beans on hand you could use navy or cannellini in their place. You’ll need about 3 ½ cups cooked.
Another recipe I have wanted to create a vegan version for is a tasty shaved Brussels sprout salad. Often you’ll find these kinds of salads made with the addition of grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese to tame the assertive Brassica flavor. Here I used a combination of crushed pine nuts, sweet white miso and nutritional yeast, which gives the salad the desired umami taste.
For those of you celebrating Thanksgiving I wish you a wonderful day filled with gratitude and delicious food.
Roasted squash and heirloom bean tart with pumpkin seed crust
Although I like the look of the green-skinned kabocha squash in this tart, I found that the large wedges roasted up a little too dry. To create a moister texture, you could roast them separately and cover for the first half of the cooking time; or replace them with more of the red kuri or delicata squash if you prefer.
If you don’t have a pressure cooker, allow plenty of time to cook the beans, as they are extra large.
Makes 1 10-inch tart/serves 8
Crust
¾ cup regular rolled oats (gluten free if needed)
¾ cup toasted pumpkin seeds, divided
¼ cup chickpea flour
¼ cup brown rice flour, I used sprouted
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ cup oat flour (gluten free if needed)
½ teaspoon sea salt
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
5 tablespoons nut milk or soymilk
Filling
1 ½ cup white Corona beans, soaked over night in plenty of water
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
2 inch strip kombu
1 large yellow onion, quartered and sliced
Sea salt
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
Topping
½ a medium-large red kuri squash, halved and seeded
½ a medium large kabocha squash, halved and seeded
1 large delicata squash, halved and seeded
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
Sea salt
½ cup sage leaves
Make the crust:
Oil a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom and set aside. Add oats, ½ cup of the pumpkin seeds and chickpea flour to a food processor and grind until fine. Transfer to a medium bowl. Place remaining pumpkin seeds in the food processor and pulse until crushed. Add them to the bowl along with rice flour, baking powder, oat flour and sea salt. Use a fork to stir mixture well, breaking up any lumps. Drizzle in olive oil and mix until evenly distributed. Add nut or soymilk and stir until mixture comes together. Dough should be moist and hold together easily but not stick to your hands. If it seems dry, add a little more milk; and if it seems wet, set it aside for 10 to 20 minutes. Press crust thinly and evenly into prepared tart pan and prick bottom with a fork several times. Bake 20 minutes or until almost cooked through, remove from oven and set aside.
Make the filling:
Drain and rinse beans. Place in a pressure cooker, cover with an inch of water and add kombu. Bring up to high pressure, reduce heat to low and cook for 30 minutes. Remove from heat, allow pressure to come down, remove lid, compost kombu, drain beans and set aside.
Warm 1 tablespoon olive oil in a wide skillet over medium heat. Add onions and cook 8 minutes or until beginning to brown. Stir in ½ a teaspoon sea salt, lower heat a little and continue cooking 10 to 15 minutes or until soft and caramelized. Stir in the regular balsamic vinegar and half of the cooked and drained beans. Use a potato masher to crush the beans and set aside. Place remaining beans in a food processor and add remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil, white balsamic and ½ a teaspoon salt and puree until smooth. Add to the caramelized onion mixture and stir well. Season to taste.
Make the topping:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a rimed baking sheet with parchment paper and set aide. Cut squash into 1 ¼ inch wedges and place on prepared tray, add 2 tablespoons olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper; toss to combine. Spread out in a single layer and roast 25 minutes or until browning on the bottom, turn wedges over and continue roasting for about 20 minutes more or until squash is browning and soft all the way through. Remove from oven and set aside. Lift off parchment paper and line tray with a fresh sheet. Add sage leaves and remaining olive oil and toss to combine. Roast for 7 minutes or until crisp, remove from oven and set aside.
Assembling tart:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill pre-baked tart shell with white bean mixture. Arrange roasted squash wedges on top and bake for 20 minutes or until heated through. Remove from oven and allow to cool 10 to 15 minutes before removing sides of pan. Top with crispy sage leaves and serve.
Shaved Brussels sprout salad with crushed pine nut dressing
Serves 6 to 8 as a side
¾ pound Brussels sprouts
¾ teaspoon unpasteurized sweet white miso
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
4 teaspoons white balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup lightly toasted pine nuts, divided
Sea salt to taste
Combine miso, lemon juice and vinegar in a small bowl. Add nutritional yeast and olive oil and whisk until emulsified. Crush half the pine nuts using a muddler or back of a spoon; add them to the dressing, season to taste with salt and set aside.
Remove the outer leaves from the Brussels sprouts and place in a wide bowl or platter. Shave the Brussels sprouts and add them to the bowl. Drizzle with dressing, sprinkle with remaining toasted pine nuts and serve.
All these lovely photos are by Stephen Johnson
POSTED IN Gluten free, Mains, Salads
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I love everything in this recipe!!!
this tart is such a beauty, and the brussel sprout salad sounds delightful!
Thank you Myriam! They go well together, let me know if you make either.
Amy x
This looks beautiful – I just went and grabbed Nourish and saw the original photo too. Great cookbook (and yours also – am loving it!).
Holy moly! This looks absolutely amazing. Can’t wait to give the recipe a go.
Hi Amy,
What a lovely thing to do. I am always so pleased to hear that anyone uses and enjoys Nourish. I really appreciate your acknowledgement of it and me as the source of your Thanksgiving tart. It lots delicious. Mine was combined with ant miso. I am about to make a batch of Natto miso so in a month or two I may revisit that little tartlet myself.
Warmly, from my summer to your winter,
Holly
Hi Holly!
I am yet to make that tartlet…I’m sure its delicious. Especailly with home made natto!
So lovely to see your comment! Are you coming out with another book?
Happy summer!
Amy x
I love Brussels sprouts, a favourite vegetable of mine in winter. We call them fairy cabbages at our house, I’ve found this a nice way to entice small people to try them.
Yes! Great idea….they are one of my fav’s too!
Looks beautiful, and I plan to make one-BUT, is it a chore to eat with the skin left on?
Hi Grete,
The skin on red kuri and delicata is creamy and delicious. Sometimes kabocha can be little tough and a good idea to peel.
Amy x
Is there a source for the beans in nyc?
Hi Grete,
I have found them here and there and last time I saw a pretty good selection of Rancho Gordo beans was at a gourmet shop in Essex Street Market.
They sell cheese and are at the back, sorry I don’t know the name but they said they always have a good selection.
Let me know how you go!
Amy.
Gorgeous! I made two tarts from your cookbook for Thanksgiving, and they were a hit with my whole family. I did the pumpkin and the chocolate truffle. I have a feeling they’re going to be an annual tradition. Absolutely delicious and something I felt good about feeding them. Since purchasing your cookbook, which I sat and read the way I would a novel, I’ve rearranged and stocked my pantry and have incorporated many, many recipes into our weekly meals. The book is inspiring, educational, and gives me a new way to think about things. I refer to it almost daily. I hope one day you’ll come out with another cookbook. Until then, I’ll enjoy your blog very much.
Hi Kari,
I am so excited to read your note and delighted to think 2 of the tarts will become family traditions!
So glad you’re getting a lot out of the book, it really is such a joy to hear that you’ve stocked your pantry and refer to it so often!
Thank you for taking the time to write and for your support!
Happy cooking!
Amy x
Hi Amy,
I’m living in Mauritius at the moment and don’t have access to a huuge range of ingredients.. I have all of the crust ingredients stocked up (yay!) but was just wondering whether you think this would work well with normal lima beans (or cannellini?!), no kombu and butternut in place of all of the other squashes? Unfortunately no chance of brussels either so would just try to whip up some other green and miso-ey side. Thank you!
Hi Anna,
Sorry about the delay in responding! Yes you could definitely use cannellini beans to replace the heirloom beans. Find to leave out the kombu if you can’t get it.Butternut would also work very well in place of the other winter squash. Also the salad dressing would go great with any robust green. Enjoy and let me know how it goes! THanks for following along!
Amy x
Hi Amy
I see in your recipes, that you use alot of Kombu, I don’t know if you know this but back here in your homeland (Australia) it is unavailable as the Australian government (Julia Gillard) banned it after the Japanese earthquake, and, the scandal with Bonsoy soy milk.
Is there a substitute for the kombu that you would recommend.
I have just ordered your book from The Book Depository and I am looking forward to receiving it and trying out your recipes.
Hi Allison,
Thanks for writing and for ording my book! Here I get kombu from the coast of Maine and use it, it’s softer than Japanese kombu. You could use any type of kelp or sea veg to help with digestion. Can you get wakame? Kombu is great as it stays together. Maybe you could tie some up in cheesecloth to stop it from dispersing through the dish?
Let me know how it goes. Great that there is so much awareness about contamination in Australia.
Happy cooking!
Amy.