Butternut Squash Tart

A great new recipe I discovered around Thanksgiving offers another use for butternut squash besides the typical soup route.  A crowd favorite, this is a nice hearty appetizers that toes the line between sweet and savory.

Ingredients: frozen puff pastry sheet, butternut squash (preferably whole/fresh and sliced to your desired thinness), 1 egg + water, salt, olive oil, fresh sage leaves, honey or maple syrup, parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven 375 and begin by placing the puff pastry sheet on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.  Beat the egg and a tsp of water to make an egg wash and brush it over the puff pastry.  Arranged your butternut squash slices evenly over the pastry, overlapping as you see fit.

Cover the squash covered pastry with more parchment paper and another cookie sheet of something with a little weight to press down on the squash before putting it into the oven.  As it bakes, the moisture in the squash won't evaporate leaving it dry, but allow for steam cooking.  Bake for about 10-15 minutes.  When you notice some puffing of the pastry, but not browning on top, you're good.

Remove the top layer of parchment paper and cookie sheet, brush or drizzle with olive oil and return the squash pastry to the oven.  Bake for an addition half an hour or so, uncovered, until the squash looks cooked to your doneness (you can poke it with a toothpick or fork to make sure it is soft enough), and the pastry is a light golden brown, but not a burnt mess.

The suggested toppings for the tart are a chili-infused honey, fried sage leaves, and freshly shaved parmesan cheese.  When I made this, we did not have honey and one of our diners was not a fan of spicy things, so for the drizzle, we went with maple syrup instead.  I wanted the syrup to be thicker though, so in a saute pan I heated a few tablespoons of syrup with about half as much water, cooked to a boil, then simmered while it reduced and thickened.  For the fried sage, heat the olive oil in a shallow skillet over medium-high heat and add the fresh sage, one leaf at a time.  It will bubble/pop because of the moisture in the leaves, and it will fry quickly so remove the leaves with tongs after about 5-10 seconds on each side in the oil.

Top the tart with the honey or syrup drizzle, the fried sage, and the cheese (preferably freshly shaved parmesan, but we only had pre-grated).  Slice into individual squares and serve!

Bacon Wrapped Goat Cheese Stuffed Baked Pears

I was recently gifted pears, which is interesting because I'm not so much a pear eater.  I consulted google to determine what I could do with these pears that would possibly appease my fruit-hating palate, and lo-and-behold....bacon was the answer!  Big surprise.  This recipe had the makings of all the things I love: bacon and goat cheese.  The pear became an afterthought, which was fine by me. 

Begin by preheating your oven to 350 F, halve your pears, and remove the pits, leaving a nice bowl for your cheese.  Place the pear halves on a cookie sheet, fill the scooped out insides with herbed goat cheese, and wrap with raw bacon.  So maybe the recipe calls for a single slice of bacon, but obviously that wasn't enough, so I went for two. 

Drizzle the pears with a little olive oil and salt and pepper and bake for about 30 minutes (more or less depending on pear size). 

Once done, serve over a bed of greens.  I used mesclun, but you can also use arugula or whatever you prefer.  We made a mild vinaigrette to drizzle over the lettuce before we topped with the pears and drizzled with a little honey.  The juices from the pears, the fat from the bacon, and the sweetness of the honey actually combined pretty well with the greens and cheese and made for a surprisingly delicious pear salad...though that could be all the bacon's doing. 

I had some leftovers so I reheated the pears in the toaster oven to re-crisp the bacon, and one morning I served this for breakfast over a fried egg.  Not bad for a fruit.