Photo by McKel Hill for her blog Nutrition Stripped
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This week's farm share is slated to include fennel and I thought I'd do a recipe for a tart to celebrate. With it being apple and winter squash season, why not combine all three? My recipe uses delicata squash and an onion, while butternut squash is pictured. You could even use sweet potatoes instead.
This tart features a gluten and soy free vegan crust. If you'd prefer a conventional butter crust, see my recipe here. I also have a recipe for a crust that includes corn meal and cheese here. You can make the rice and the quinoa flours called for in this recipe by chilling the grains and then running them through a blender.
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Serves 6 - 8
Crust:
½ cup brown rice flour
½ cup quinoa flour
¼ cup cornstarch
8 tablespoons coconut oil, chilled
6 tablespoons ice water
¼ teaspoon sea salt
Filling:
1 delicata squash, unpeeled and halved, (or 1 half large butternut, peeled and quartered), seeds and strings removed and then sliced thin.
1 large Granny Smith apple, quartered, cored and sliced thin
1 fennel bulb, end trimmed, sliced thinly (reserve the greens and stems for another purpose)
1 large onion, peeled, end trimmed, sliced thinly
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried sage or 1 tablespoon fresh sage leaves chopped
1 teaspoon of dried rosemary or 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, whole leaves
1 teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼-1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
2. To make the crust, combine all the rice and quinoa flours and corn starch in a large mixing bowl. Start making small balls or chunks of the chilled coconut oil that you'll be working this into the flour and gradually adding in the ice cold water 1 tablespoon at a time. At this point, the dough will look very crumbly. Work your hands into the dough bringing it together- use a pastry scraper to help get the dough off the the sides of the bowl. Spread the dough out in a well-greased cast iron skillet, making sure that the dough comes all the way up to the top of the sides so that you will have the option to fold it over.. Chill for 5-10 minutes in the refrigerator. If you don't have a large skillet, you can roll the dough out on a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet instead.
3. To make the filling, combine in the sliced squash, apples, onions and fennel in a large mixing bowl. Add olive oil and seasoning and gently toss. Arrange in layers until the entire crust is full. When the crust is warm enough to work, gently fold the edges on top of the sliced filling. Drizzle entire tart with additional olive oil and sea salt.
4. Bake for 40 minutes at 400 degrees F or until crust is golden brown.
5. If you'd like you can serve each slice with a dollop of Greek yogurt, a crumble of goat or feta cheese, soy sour cream or McKel Hill suggests cashew spread ( I prefer Molly Patrick's recipe because it avoids the brewer's yeast, but you may want to spice it up with fresh garlic and Dijon mustard.) In addition, or instead, you can also used a few of the fennel fronds torn apart for a garnish.
