A seasonal vegetarian tart from Diana Henry.
Ingredients
- For the pastry:
- 250 g plain flour plus extra for dusting
- 150 g cold butter cubed
- 1 egg yolk
- FOR THE FILLING
- 20 g butter
- 4½ tbsp olive oil
- ½ onion finely chopped
- 175 g mushrooms sliced or quartered, depending on their size
- 500 g pumpkin or squash seeded and peeled (prepared weight), cut into 2cm chunks
- 50 g cooked chestnuts roughly chopped
- 115 g Stilton rind removed, crumbled, or other vegetarian blue cheese
- 2 large eggs plus 2 large yolks
- 175 ml double cream
- 150 ml creme fraiche
Servings:
Instructions
- To make the pastry, put the flour, butter and a good pinch of salt into a food processor and whizz until it resembles breadcrumbs.
- Mix the yolk with ½ tbsp of very cold water, add to the flour mix and whizz again. Add another ½ tbsp of very cold water if needed for the pastry to come together in a ball. Wrap in cling film and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Roll the pastry out on a piece of lightly floured greaseproof paper. Line a 25-26cm loose-bottomed tart tin (3cm deep) with the pastry. Trim the edges and wrap the scraps in cling film to keep in the fridge. Prick the bottom of the tin with a fork then chill in the fridge or freezer until firm.
- Preheat the oven to 200C/190C fan/gas mark 6 and put in a metal baking sheet to heat up. Line the pastry with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans.
- Bake on the sheet for 10 minutes then remove the paper and beans and cook for another 8 minutes. Leave to cool.Lower the temperature to 180C/170C fan/gas mark 4. Use the leftover raw pastry to patch any cracks.
- For the filling, heat a third of the butter and ½ tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan and cook the onion gently, until soft but not coloured. Scrape into a bowl.
- Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in the same frying pan and sauté the mushrooms briskly. You want to get a good colour on these. Mushrooms give out water when they cook so make sure you cook this off.
- Add another third of the butter towards the end of cooking the mushrooms. Season and add to the bowl with the onions.Heat the rest of the oil and butter and fry the pumpkin or squash until tender and golden.
- Spoon the onion, pumpkin, mushrooms, chestnuts and Stilton into the pastry case.Mix the eggs, yolks and both creams together in a jug. Season, but don’t use too much salt (the cheese is very salty). Pour on top of the vegetables and Stilton.
- Return the tart to the baking sheet and cook for 45 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and the filling just set (it should still be a little soft).Cool for 15 minutes, remove the tart ring, slide on to a plate and serve.
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