A healthy pumpkin, kale, mushrooms and chestnuts sourdough fermented tart. The autumn harvest in a tart for a perfect quick vegetarian lunch. All (almost) the abundance of the autumn harvest in a fermented spelt-thyme sourdough tart crust. It comes together in relatively straitforward process so it’s great for a nice lunch with some salad.
Also, it keeps really well for next day. Just place it covered in the fridge. Before serving let it come a bit to room temperature.
ABOUT THE PUMPKIN, KALE, MUSHROOMS, …
The ingredients for this tart are simple, anything autumn harvest related, basically.
When choosing pumpkins choose, the one with less water content, such as the butternut, Kabocha, Red Kuri (Hokkaido) and the like. The worst thing for a tart is excess water in the filling making it soggy and unpleasant.
In the beginning of autumn kale is still very young and delicate and is a delight for any dish. At this stage you can even use the stalk partially, as it still does not have the strong fiber developed.
Mushrooms and autumn just go hand in hand. It makes those long forest walks even more enjoyable. As always you need to be extra careful when picking mushrooms, as not all are edible. So if you are not an avid mushroom forager, no worries, there are still plenty of full tasting mushrooms in the store. As a substitute I would use shiitake mushrooms, as they provide for a very strong mushroom flavor and add a strong dimension of flavor to the tart.
Another great forest foraging activity, which is really fun with the kids, is picking chestnuts. Just make sure they are the edible kind and not those big weird looking ones, which we usually find in the cities.
ABOUT THE SOURDOUGH CRUST
For a healthier option and increased flavor I opted here for a fermented sourdough crust rather than just adding some sourdough discard for flavor.
The mixed tart dough is fermented at the ambient temperature of around 23ºC (74ºF) overnight and is then placed in the fridge for further slow fermentation until the next day. This is really handy, as not only that you have the tart dough all ready to go, but it is also much healthier for you than if you just mixed it and chilled.
The tart dough is further infused with dried thyme which nicely complements the rest of the autumn harvest ingredients.
The curst once baked is flaky and not chewy at all, but rather like a nice crispy cookie to complement the almost creamy tart filling.
Pumpkin, kale, mushrooms, chestnuts sourdough tart
Equipment & Tools
- Food processor
- 9in fluted round tart pan with removable bottom
INGREDIENTS
Sourdough tart crust
- 150 g whole spelt flour
- ½ tsp salt
- ⅛ tsp black pepper (freshly ground)
- ½ tsp thyme (dried)
- 50 g sourdough starter (bubbly and ripe)
- 82 g butter (Kerrygold, cut in ½in cubes)
Tart filling
- 1 medium butternut squash (cleaned, cubed, about 530g)
- 4½ tbsp olive oil (extra virgin)
- salt & pepper
- 100 g chestnuts (raw, or buy precooked ones)
- 1 shallot (medium, sliced)
- 50 g kale (a small bunch, leaves only, sliced thin)
- 150 g shiitake mushrooms (or fresh Porcini, sliced)
- 2 cloves garlic (sliced thin)
- 3 eggs
- ¼ c double cream (60g)
- 10 g parmesan (finely shreded)
- ¼ c chives (diced, loosely packed)
- ⅛ tsp nutmeg (freshly ground)
- 1 tsp Nora pepper flakes
- 50 g Brie cheese (bite size pieces)
- small bunch fresh sage laves
INSTRUCTIONS
- The night before assemble the tart crust dough.
The tart crust
- Add whole spelt flour, salt, pepper, and thyme to the food processor. Pulse several times to combine all the ingredients.Add the sourdough starter and pulse until it is incorporated.Add the butter and pulse until the mixture starts coming together and there are almost no dry bits of flour.
- Place the dough on the counter and shape into a disc. Wrap in the zip lock bag and let it ferment until next morning.
- Next morning – place the dough in the fridge to cool down for at least 1 hour.
Make the filling & bake the crust
- Preheat the oven to 220ºC(430ºF).
- Season the pumpkin with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast it for about 30 minutes or until the pumpkin is soft and cooked through. Set aside to cool. Lower the oven to 180ºC(350ºF).
- Score the chestnuts and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes or until the fork goes smoothly through. Make sure to not overcook them as they will start to fall apart when peeling the skin off (Note 1).With a small knife peel and clean the skin completely off. Set aside.
- Brush the tart pan with a thin layer of coconut oil.Roll out the tart crust and place it in the tart pan so that all the edges are properly pressed in and there are no space on the bottom edge part of the pan and the dough.Prickle with the fork and place the baking beads on top. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the edges start to take on the color.Leave on the counter to cool.
- In a skillet, sautee the shallots with 2 tablespoons of olive oil for couple of minutes. Add the kale and the mushrooms and continue for another several minutes or until the mushrooms are cooked. Add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds. Add the mixture to the pumpkins. Mix to incorporate and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, cream, salt & pepper, nutmeg, Nora flakes, chives, and parmesan. Set aside.
Assemble the tart
- Add all of the pumpkin, kale, mushroom mixture in the baked tart crust. Level it but don't press down. Crumble the chestnuts over the top along with the Brie pieces.Pour the egg mixture over.Mix the sage leaves with ½ tablespoon of the olive oil and scatter on top.
- Bake on 180ºC(350ºF) for 30 minutes or until it starts to take on color and the tootpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Let the tart cool before serving.
NOTES
- If you don’t have fresh chestnuts or just don’t want to bother with this cooking and cleaning process, you can buy precooked chestnuts.
