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Home » Recipes » VEGETABLES, SALADS & SIDES » Cheesey Heirloom Pumpkin & Garlic Tart

Cheesey Heirloom Pumpkin & Garlic Tart

01/05/2012 by Amanda

After yet more mild weather here in Adelaide, autumn has finally landed big time – well, up here in the hills it has – and I write this post sitting next to my gently glowing slow-combustion stove which I’ve lit for the first time this season.  As I mentioned to you last week, I’m very fond of the comforts of the cooler weather – warm fires, fluffy slippers, red wine and the seasonal foods that are around at this time of year.  Pumpkin always features pretty strongly around now and it is one of my favourite vegetables.

Pumpkins are grown all around the world as commercial food crops, for animal feed and for ornamental reasons.  In fact, of all the seven continents only one – Antarctica – is unable to produce them, with the biggest producer-nations being the United States, Canada, India and China.   They are a versatile and adaptable vegetable and the variety of dishes which can be prepared are not just limited to the flesh of the plant.  Pumpkin seeds are a popular and highly nutritious snack food when roasted and also yield an oil which contains essential fatty acids, and is considered a delicacy in parts of Europe.

There is a vast variety of pumpkins and squash which can be grown, but you would be forgiven for being unaware of this fact as the range available in supermarkets is limited to only a very few.  Once again, here is where farmers markets and CSA’s come into their own as the producers not bound to the limited growing options of the large retailers can experiment with smaller crops and some of the lesser known or forgotten varieties.  Jupiter Creek Farm subscribers will have found some lovely, little orange pumpkins called Potimarrons in their boxes of late.  These are a French heritage variety whose name derives from “potiron” for pumpkin and “marron” for chestnut, due to their aromatic chestnut flavour when roasted.

I combined mine with some local garlic which I had preserved in olive oil, some cheesey pastry and a jar of sublime marinated feta from Udder Delight’s Divine Dairy range.  I made the confit garlic in my Thermomix, but it can be done very simply in a saucepan too – directions to do this are included.

Cheesey Heirloom Pumpkin & Garlic Tart  
Ingredients
  • 200 gms plain flour
  • 100 gms butter, cubed & chilled
  • 25 gms finely grated parmesan cheese
  • 50-60 gms iced water
  • 500gms slice, peeled pumpkin
  • 2 tbs chopped, fresh sage
  • olive oil
  • 5-6 cloves confit garlic, mashed
  • 200 gms feta (marinated is nice)
  • 1 tbs chopped, fresh sage
  • 1 tbs toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 180C.
  2. Place flour, butter and cheese in food processor and whizz until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs.
  3. With the machine running, slowly add the iced water until the dough just comes together. DO NOT OVER-PROCESS or it will shrink on cooking.
  4. Turn it out onto benchtop, knead lightly, then wrap in plastic wrap and refridgerate for 1/2 hour.
  5. Toss pumpkin slices in sage, olive oil, salt and pepper, spread in a shallow baking tray and cook for 15-20 minutes until just soft. Cool.
  6. Remove pastry from refrigerator and roll out to fit rectangular, loose-bottomed tart flan (or whatever one you have). Place baking paper over the dough and weigh it down with pastry weights or dried beans. Blind bake for 12 minutes.
  7. Spread the mashed garlic along the base of the flan, crumble 1/2 the feta over this, then layer the cooked pumpkin. Crumble the rest of the feta on top and sprinkle with chopped sage.
  8. Bake for 20 minutes or until pastry is golden and cheese is melty.
  9. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
 
2.2.4

The confit garlic is very simple to do and a great way to make the most of locally grown garlic while it is available.  I have my friend chef Mel Haynes to thank for this recipe.  I first tried some which she had made on the stove-top at her house and went home and adapted it for the Thermomix. She has kindly allowed me to share it with you.

Begin by peeling 4-5 heads of garlic.  I use the method suggested by Saveur.com in this video – it’s not perfect, but does work surprisingly well.  If you have a Thermomix simply add the peeled garlic to about 500 mls of really good olive oil, set the temperature to 80C, reverse stir setting and let it go for 2-3 hours.  Start checking after 2 hours.  You do not want the garlic to change colour, but it will become soft when done.  If doing the garlic in a saucepan, keep the heat just under a simmer for the same amount of time and, once again, keep an eye on it.  If it changes colour the taste will alter.  If you have a cooking thermometer you might like to use that.

Store the finished garlic in the oil in a sealed jar.  Keep refrigerated and use the extra oil for whatever takes your fancy – it’s delicious!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ali

    May 01, 2012 at 8:35 pm

    Yes, it certainly has got a bit chillier in Adelaide in the past few days! Am jealous of your combustion stove! The tart looks delicious!

  2. Jennifer (Delicieux)

    May 01, 2012 at 8:37 pm

    I love the look of this tart Amanda! I’d love a slice of this as it has so many of my favourite flavours.

  3. InTolerant Chef

    May 02, 2012 at 6:59 am

    Two recipes for the price of one today, and they’re both winners! What a gorgeous tart with the cheesy crust, and anything garlic gets my vote- especially if it uses the Thermo so I can set and forget 🙂

  4. Celia

    May 02, 2012 at 8:52 am

    Wonderful! I just looked at the baby golden nuggets and the giant Qld blue pumpkin sitting on our deck and wondered what we should do with them! It really is pumpkin season, isn’t it?

  5. Johanna

    May 02, 2012 at 9:26 am

    This looks such a beautiful recipe. I love all of those ingredients and will be sure to make this…just mentally sifting through what I would put it with. It may be great as a bbq side. Thankyou for a lovely post, cheers, Johanna.

  6. Hotly Spiced

    May 02, 2012 at 9:48 am

    That tart looks delicious and I think the pumpkin, garlic and fetta flavours would be incredible together. I haven’t made confit garlic before but I’m sure the oil would have an amazing flavour. xx

  7. Kate

    May 02, 2012 at 6:56 pm

    Fabulous, fabulous tart – my sort of eating !!

  8. Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella

    May 03, 2012 at 8:35 pm

    The food is my favourite part of colder weather 😀 This looks very comforting!

  9. Lizzy (Good Things)

    May 03, 2012 at 9:55 pm

    Amanda, it definitely is pumpkin weather in Canberra! We are dropping to zero overnight! I wonder if my pumpkin vine will die!? I have thrown a tarp over the chillies. Lovely, lovely recipes, thanks every so much for warming up my evening.

  10. Rosa

    May 07, 2012 at 9:26 pm

    A great recipe and beautiful tart! I bet it tastes really scrumptious.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

  11. Peter G | Souvlaki ForThe Soul

    May 15, 2012 at 8:14 pm

    Beautiful tart Amanda. Love the idea of adding cheese and sesame seeds to this! Bring on the comfort foods of winter.

Trackbacks

  1. Jupiter Creek Farm CSA box – week 5 | Kitchen Adventures with Lucy says:
    21/05/2012 at 11:45 am

    […] so excited about this as it was amazing last we had it. I’m thinking I’ll make this pumpkin tart and any leftover will go into the roast vegetable party I’ve described […]

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