Squash and Caramelized Onion Tart

So a little confession, but I am obsessed with Bon Appétit! I love vegan recipes but sometimes they are bit too “crunchy” for me if ya catch my drift. I love showing how you could take a regular recipe and easily make it vegan, so for Thanksgiving I recreated this recipe from BA to prove how easy it is to eat well and go vegan.

To make this a less clumsy post I will say that I halved everything you see below to make two mini tarts that were perfect for a two person household. For the crust I only used All Purpose flour to make things easier, so just one cup of AP rather than 1/2 wheat and 1/2 AP and the crust was still perfect. I also did not have any squash on hand and actually used Sweet Potatoes and it was dope. I admit this because I want you to understand the process of cooking and how you can use recipes as a guideline and you don’t have to be super stressed if you don’t have one of the squashes or any red onions. I modified this whole tart recipe to be comprised of: (1) white onion, (1) yellow onion, (4) cloves of garlic, (2oz) Daiya Cheddar Shreds and the world’s largest sweet potato and it was AMAZING!

Chef Notes: This recipe requires a lot of prep work to make, ensure that you cut all your veggies at the same time and plop them in bowls so that it’s ready when you need it.

Reviews for the original recipe on Bon Appétit say that they “had more veggies than they could fit into pan. “ So, you could probably leave out a yellow onion and use a little less squash.

Some of the other comments wrote that the original recipe was “rather bland” which is interesting because I felt my version even with very few ingredients was very flavorful. I really focused on a true caramelization of my onions which means I gave them a full 45 minutes in my cast iron skillet. It sounds harder than it was because I def walked away from my pan to do my hair, change clothing, and left it on autopilot for a bit. It’s also important that you get a little bit of each ingredient in each bite. These flavors are a team and need one another to give the full effect, so don’t pick the tart apart as you eat!

Pastry Dough isn’t as hard as it seems. Yes you have to chill it for 2 hours but it’s not that big of a deal if you toss it together, pop it in fridge and then get to your other prep work. The onions take 45 minutes to cook so that’s half your chill time right there. Plus have some wine, you’ll be fine.

Ingredients

CRUST

• 1 cup whole wheat flour

• 1 tsp. kosher salt

• 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for surface

• 10 Tbsp. chilled non-dairy butter, cut into pieces

  • I love Earth Balance Butter Sticks for easy measuring

FILLING AND ASSEMBLY

• 4 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided

• 4 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced

• Kosher salt

• 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

• 2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

• Pinch of cayenne pepper

• 4 oz. non-dairy cheddar or Gruyère shreds

  • Try Daiya or Miyoko’s Creamery

• ½ small butternut squash (a lengthwise half, about 1¼ lb.), seeds removed

• 1 delicata squash (about 1 lb.), halved lengthwise, seeds removed

• 1 small sweet potato

• 1 small red onion

• 2 sprigs thyme

• 2 Tbsp. non dairy butter

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT

An 11"- or 12"-diameter fluted tart pan with removable bottom or a 9"-diameter springform pan.*

*I used two small glass tart pans and we just ate out of them, but obviously if you are making this to share you’ll want something that allows the tart to come out for easy slicing and serving.

CRUST

Step 1

Whisk whole wheat flour, salt, and 1 cup all-purpose flour in a large bowl to combine. Add butter and work into dry ingredients with your fingers, smashing between your palms to flatten, until largest pieces are the size of a nickel. Drizzle in 6 Tbsp. ice water and rake in with your fingers. Gently squeeze handfuls of mixture together until a shaggy dough forms. Turn out onto a work surface and knead until only a few dry spots remain. Pat into a disk and wrap in plastic. Chill until very firm, at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.

I chilled my dough for 2 hours because I forgot about the fact that pastry crust needs to be super cold. So just as a heads up 2 hours will go by fast if you do the dough first and then use the remainder of that time to create the filling and whatever else you are serving alongside this dish. So don’t let that 2 hour chill time throw you off your game! You got this!

Step 2 (When it’s time to cook)

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to about ⅛" thick. Transfer to tart pan. Lift up edges and allow dough to slump down into pan. Gently press into corners and trim excess. (If using springform pan, trim dough to 1½" up sides of pan). Freeze until firm, 15–20 minutes, or cover and chill up to 12 hours.

FILLING AND ASSEMBLY

Step 3

Place a rack in lower third of oven; preheat to 350°.

Step 4

Swirl 2 Tbsp. oil in a large skillet to coat bottom and add yellow onions; season with kosher salt. Set skillet over medium heat and cook onions, stirring occasionally and making sure to scrape bottom of pan, until very soft and deep golden brown, 15–20 minutes.

Add garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are caramelized and deeply browned, 25–30 minutes (if any pieces get super dark and stick to the pan, a few drops of water should dislodge them). Let cool.

Step 5

Brush mustard over chilled dough, then sprinkle with cayenne.

Stir cheese into caramelized onion mixture and spread across crust in an even layer.

Step 6 (I pre cut all my veggies in the beginning to stay nicely organized and have all my stuff cleaned and put away so when I made my tarts this part had been done before I started cooking. I also do not own a mandoline. I just VERY carefully cut thin slices. Mandolines scare the shit outta me)

Using a mandoline or very sharp knife, thinly slice both squashes crosswise. Cut sweet potato and red onion in half lengthwise, then thinly slice crosswise with mandoline. Arrange vegetables in concentric circles, with rounded edges facing up, starting from the outside edge, leaning slices against the crust, and working your way inward. Drizzle remaining 2 Tbsp. oil over vegetables and season with kosher salt.

Step 7

Bake tart until edges of vegetables are browned (a few spots may even get deeply browned) and crust is golden brown, 75–90 minutes.

Step 8

Melt thyme and butter in a small saucepan and cook just until butter is bubbling. Brush over tart with a pastry brush and sprinkle with sea salt.