The transition between tomato girl summer to squash tart autumn (official name still pending) was quick. I was still making a few heirloom tomato tarts last week and dropping slices off to friends that love a perfectly multi-coloured tomato like me. I knew tomato season was coming to and end though, when leaves from the trees started falling and a trip to the farmer’s market could not longer be done wearing a t-shirt and shorts without a jacket. I did manage to squeeze in one last heirloom tomato tart, finished with the tallest mountain if freshly grated parmesan, this week and it was the most perfect way to end the late summer season for me.
I wasted no time and immediately started on making an autumnal version of a tart to fill the irregularly shaped tomato sized hole in my summer-loving heart. Despite being a tomato girl through and through, I do love fall produce (especially squash) just as much and it only seemed natural to kick off fall tart season with a tart that celebrates the beautiful shapes and flavours of squash. I’ve always caught myself thinking of how the squash petals were arranged on this specific squash tart, and I knew I would want to do something similar for my version. Acorn and butternut squashes are sliced thinly alongside sweet potato and red onion, and they are arranged on top of a layer of deeply caramelized onions inside a parmesan and black pepper tart shell thats brushed with white miso. The bake time is quite long, but it allows for the vegetables to get really tender and crisp up along the edges. The squash, root vegetables, and red onions become really sweet when cooked, which pairs nicely with the deeply savoury tart shell with miso. It has only been a week but I’ve already made several versions of this tart to arrive at this version here, and it’s the one I’m making for Thanksgiving this weekend.
Miso Squash Tart with Caramelized Onions
Ingredients
Parmesan Black Pepper Shortcrust
- 120 g (1 cup) whole wheat flour
- 120 g (1 cup) all-purpose flour
- 30 g (~1/4 cup) parmesan cheese, finely grated
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 140 g (10 tbsp) unsalted butter, cold
- 90 ml (6 tbsp) ice water
Caramelized Onions
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 4 medium yellow onions
- kosher salt, to taste
- 2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
Squash, Sweet Potato, and Red Onion Petals
- 1/2 butternut squash
- 1/2 acorn squash
- 1 medium sweet potato
- kosher salt
- 57 g (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted
- flakey salt, to taste
Assembly
- 2 tbsp white miso
- 2 tbsp warm water
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- kosher salt, to taste
- 57 g (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
Parmesan Black Pepper Shortcrust
- Preheat oven to 350F and line the bottom of a 10-inch tart pan with a remove-able bottom with a small piece of parchment.
- In large bowl, whisk together flours and kosher salt. Add finely grated parmesan and black pepper. Mix.
- Using a cheese grater, grate large pieces of cold butter into the flour mixture. Using your fingers, press the butter into the flour mixture. You want to still be able to see pieces of butter.
- Drizzle in 6 tbsp of ice water and toss the mixture until the water has been absorbed. Gently squeeze handfuls of the mixture together until a shaggy dough forms. Add a few drops of water to any parts that are dry and won't come together. Pat into a disc and wrap in plastic. Chill dough for at least 1 hour.
Caramelized Onions
- While the dough is chilling, make the caramelized onions.
- Thinly slice yellow onions.
- In a large pan over medium heat, heat up 2 tbsp of olive oil.
- Add onions to the pan and season with kosher salt.
- Over medium-low heat, cook the onions while stirring occasionally, until they are very soft and deep golden brown, about 15 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, while continuing to stir. Cook until onions are deeply browned, an additional 20 – 30 minutes. Allow onions to cool.
Squash, Sweet Potato, and Red Onion Petals
- Using a mandolin or a sharp knife, thinly slice the squash, sweet potato, and red onion crosswise.
Assembly
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Roll out chilled tart dough on a lightly floured surface (or between two pieces of parchment paper), to about 1/8-inch thick. Transfer to tart pan and gently press into corners and trim off excess. Freeze tart shell for 15 minutes.
- In a small bowl combine miso and warm water. Whisk until smooth.
- Remove chilled tart shell from freezer and brush on an even layer of miso.
- Spread caramelized onions across crust in an even layer.
- Starting from the outside, arrange vegetables in concentric circles, with rounded edges facing upwards.
- Drizzle olive oil on tart and season with kosher salt.
- Bake the tart until the edges of vegetables are browned and the crust is golden brown, about 75 – 85 minutes.
- Remove tart from oven and brush tart with melted butter. Top with flakey salt.
![day two: sparkly matcha neapolitan shortbread cookies ✨
the instructions might seem confusing, but if you watch the video to see how the different flavour layers are stacked, it will make much more sense! these slice and bake cookies freeze extremely well so you can make the dough now and bake them off when you want to gift them. (makes 40-44)
vanilla dough:
85g (1/3 cup + 2 tsp) unsalted butter, room temp
45g (6 tbsp) powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
90g (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
matcha dough:
85g (1/3 cup + 2 tsp) unsalted butter, room temp
45g (6 tbsp) powdered sugar
90g (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
2 tsp culinary matcha powder
1/4 tsp salt
strawberry dough
85g (1/3 cup + 2 tsp) unsalted butter, room temp
45g 6 tbsp) powdered sugar
90g (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
2 tbsp freeze-dried strawberry powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg white
coarse sanding sugar
for the vanilla dough, combine butter and powdered sugar in a bowl. mix until smooth. add vanilla. add flour and salt and mix until no dry streaks remain. do the same for the matcha and strawberry doughs in separate bowls
place one portion of the dough between two pieces of parchment paper and roll into a 5 x 9-inch rectangle that is about 1/4-inch thick. slide rolled out dough onto a baking sheet and freeze for 10 min until firm. repeat this step with the other portions of dough
remove the top piece of parchment from each slab and stack the strawberry, vanilla, and matcha dough layers. cut the slab down the middle the long way to form two 2.5 x 9-inch rectangles. with one half, carefully swap the order of the layers (example: if the first half of the dough is stacked svm, swap the second half so it’s msv. this will ensure that same flavour squares don’t stack on each other). stack the halves. press the layers gently to adhere them. return the stacked dough to the freezer for another 10min
[recipe cont’d in comments]
#christmasbaking #christmascookies #holidaybaking #holidaycookies #cookiedecorating](https://constellationinspiration.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)
Chickie says
This tart had good flavor. The pastry was tough, though. Perhaps, use all white flour instead of 1/2 wheat, 1/2 white. Under the ingredients list for squash, sweet potato and red onion petals red onion was missing.