Butternut Squash and Mushroom Tart

Almost a year ago now, I had an internship in England, in a little town called Lancaster. There is a delightful little theatre there called the Dukes that does some very refreshing work. (Think a Brechtian version of Hunchback of Notre Dame. Very intriguing stuff.) I had the pleasure of interning as an assistant director and literary manager (which basically meant I watched rehearsals from the corner of the theatre and took plays home to read).

Anyway, during the course of this internship I discovered the enjoyment of the Saturday Guardian. In one such newspaper was a recipe for stuffed butternut squash with blue cheese and walnuts. It was basically a roasted butternut scooped out, mixed with blue cheese and walnuts and thyme, and spooned back into the shell to bake. A tiny drizzle of honey and you’ve got a bangin’ good, ultra-rich dish. Since then I have made the recipe a few times and wanted to spice it up a bit, find a new way to mash together the same ingredients.

I wanted a casserole with a crust. What would be better than a tart? I found a butternut squash tart on Epicurious and pulled the crust recipe from there. A food writer friend of mine suggested adding mushrooms to make the tart more “fall”-y. A great way to introduce myself to the world of food blogging.

Two phone calls to my mother (and two burnt batches of walnuts) later, I had something blog-worthy.

The original recipe is by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the food writer for The Guardian and one of my favorites to read.

I ate this with a fresh green salad with roasted pears. This one is great for fall!



Butternut Squash and Mushroom Tart with Blue Cheese and Walnuts

For tart shell:
1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter
1 ¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup very cold water
pie weights or raw rice to weigh the shell while pre-baking

For filling:
2 tablespoons butter
1 large butternut squash or 2 small ones
1 large Portobello mushroom cap or 2 small ones
7 oz (200g) mild blue cheese such as buttermilk blue or gorgonzola, crumpled into lumps
½ cup walnuts, coarsely chopped and lightly toasted
¼ cup heavy cream
about 3 sprigs fresh thyme, removed from stems
salt and pepper
tiny bit of honey (optional)

Blend flour, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl. Add butter straight out of the fridge, cutting into chunks as you add it to the flour mixture. I use my fingers for this, but you can also use a pastry cutter to blend the butter into the mixture until most of it becomes coarse, while the rest is left in pea-sized lumps. Do not overwork. Add 2 tablespoons of water and blend, using your hands, until just incorporated. Squeeze a bit of the mixture; if it does not form a dough, continue to add water 1 tablespoon at a time until it just barely holds together. It shouldn’t crumble in your hand, but you shouldn’t be squeezing water out of it, either. Form dough into a patty, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate 30 minutes.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Roll into a 12-inch round (about 1/8 inch thick). Carefully take the dough from your surface as not break it and lay it gently on an 11-inch tart pan with a removable fluted rim. Gently tuck the dough into the corners of the pan, pressing into the sides as you go. Remove any excess dough. Freeze 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375F.

Line tart shell with foil and fill with pie weights or rice. Bake 20 minutes or until the edges turn golden. Carefully remove foil and weights or rice, and bake for 10 minutes more, until the bottom turns golden. Leave the oven on and set the shell, in the pan, on a rack to cool.

Meanwhile, halve the squash and scoop out the seeds. Place a square of butter and some garlic in each cavity, brush with oil, season well, and roast for 1 hour or until squash is tender all the way through (a knife should go in easily).

While squash is roasting, remove the stem from the mushroom and scoop out the gills with a spoon. Chop the cap into small pieces. Heat some oil in a skillet and sauté the mushrooms with a bit of the thyme (about a spoonful) until just cooked through, about 3 minutes. Remove mushrooms from heat and set aside. Toast the walnuts in the oven until they have that delightful crumbly crispness, about 5 minutes.

When the squash is tender, scoop out the flesh into a large bowl. Roughly mash it up. Reserve some of the blue cheese and fold the rest into the squash, along with the mushrooms and cream. Add the rest of the thyme. Season to taste.

Spoon the mixture into the pie crust. You will have leftover mixture. At this point you may want to sample the rest of the bowl with the nearest utensil. Smooth out the top and sprinkle with the remaining cheese and walnuts. Return to oven and bake for 25 minutes, or until cheese is bubbling.