Spicy and savory butternut squash tart with a rye crust

Oh my , this is a long title. For a very uncomplicated dish. I thought I would be able to let the fall go by without making a squash recipe, but I did not succeed. It has been weeks already of squash hype in the blogs and I was feeling a bit stuffed. But as I wanted to try a new recipe for pastry case using some homemade fresh cheese that was decidedly past its prime, I decided to make a small quiche with a nice organic butternut squash I happened to find at the market. I confess I'm not a big fan of squash, I find it a bit... cloying, except when accompanied by a large amount of spices, as in this case, when it can turn out to be quite addictive actually. Still, the quiche did not quite blow away Mr. Winter Guest... but he is a bit of a picky eater. But fortunately I have other relatives who live nearby and are grateful recipients of my dishes. Nothing is wasted at the Winter Guest's household.


As I said, I think squash is an ingredient that cries out for vast quantities of spices, including hot, so it was an excellent opportunity to elaborate on my addiction to... you guessed it: ras-el-hanout. Although a good curry powder is too the perfect match for the sweetness of the squash. The result was excellent considering it was completely improvised just to use up the cheese in the pastry case.

Spicy and savory butternut squash tart with a rye crust
For the pastry case (yields enough for 2 tarts), adapted from The Nordic Diet

• 75g AP flour
• 160g rye flour
• 150g fresh cheese
• 50g butter
• 30g cold water
• 1 pinch salt
  

1. Weigh the flours, put them in a food processor and add the cold butter in small pieces. Pulse several times to obtain a crumbly mixture.
   
2. Add the fresh cheese and the salt and knead by hand or with the processor until the dough coheres. If it doesn't, start to add the water little by little, until you get a ball. The final amount of water needed depends on the consistency of the cheese and on the hydration of the flours.
   
3. Divide dough in half and spread one of the portions with a roller on a floured counter top (you can freeze the other portion for later use). Butter and flour a cake pan and lay the dough on it. Fit it well and prick the bottom with a fork. Put it in the preheated oven (180 ºC) 10 to 15 minutes to seal.

For the filling

• 400g butternut squash
  
• 1 medium potato
  
• 2 eggs
• 50g fresh cheese
  
• 50ml milk
• 1 tsp ras el hanout or curry
• Olive oil for roasting the squash
  
• Salt

1. Cut the squash into large slices and remove the seeds. Lay onto an oiled baking dish, add salt and brush the slices with more oil. Bake in the oven at 180°C covered with aluminum foil to avoid drying out, until tender, about 3/4 hour, depending on the quality and size of the pieces. You can cook the potato at the same time, though it will take a little shorter (I usually cook the potato in the microwave). You can vary the proportions, decreasing the squash and adding more potato, I find potato makes a great addition to this type tart.
   
2. Once the veggies are al dente, let them cool till you can touch them and slice as you like. Arrange the veggies on the half-baked pastry case in a nice pattern.
   
3. Then mix the batter for the filling: eggs, cheese, milk and seasonings, and pour it on the veggies. Tap the dish on the counter for the batter to distribute evenly and bake half an hour at 180ºC. Enjoy!
   

My verdict about the pastry case was excellent, you save yourselves a portion of butter by substituting the cheese and the rye flour also gives it a different flavor twist that makes for a pleasant variation to the classical dough. I will definitely use it again.

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Date, coconut and spice truffles

I guess you know that traditional truffles mainly consist of sweet chocolate and cream... a lot of cream. But vegans and raw vegans invented a healthier type of truffle already some time ago... yes, you can make truffles without the cream and the sugar. And I find they are a truly interesting kind of sweet, even though I'm neither vegan nor raw vegan. You've got to absorb any knowledge potentially good for you. Empty your mind, like Bruce Lee used to teach... Strip yourselves of prejudices like you peel the paper off a cupcake... To lend body and softness to the truffles, avocado or dates are used instead. Dates have been used in these truffles, to give them sweetness and tenderness.


The concept is adapted from this gorgeous vegetarian blog. I've substituted dry for fresh dates, cocoa butter for part of the coconut oil and ras el hanout for the hot chili (is this getting close to an addiction? No, why?). Sure curry powder would work too... I thought about adding hot pimentón, but I didn't dare. I've recently stumbled upon some spicy bonbons (they seem to be fashionable right now) and I really liked them. After all, Mesoamericans used to have their hot chocolate with chili. But you can skip the ras el hanout if you don't like spicy chocolate (prejudiced!). Being that these sweets aren't cooked in any way, the ingredients should all be premium quality, organic when possible. Okay, I'm a bit of a purist...

Date, coconut and spice truffles
Yields 30 small truffles

• 20 organic dried dates
  
• 1 tbsp organic coconut oil
• 1 tbsp organic cocoa butter
• 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa (better if organic)
  
• 30g shredded coconut
• 1/2 tsp cinammon
• The content of half a vanilla pod, scraped
• 1/2 tsp ras el hanout
  

And you were wondering... is it really a good idea to leave the cream out and use coconut oil instead? Well, apparently coconut oil, after being considered a very harmful saturated fat for years (coming from the wrong belief that ALL saturated fats were harmful, especially promoted in the 60's by large producers of poliinsaturated vegetable fats... what a coincidence), is changing its reputation due to recent scientific research.

1. Soak the dates in water for a while if they're too dry. Melt the coconut oil and the cocoa butter in a double boiler or bain-marie. Put the oils in a blender or processor with the drained dates and process till almost smooth. Don't expect the dates to disintegrate completely, some chunky bits will remain.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients to the date mixture and process again, till a more or less homogeneous paste forms.
3. Flatten the paste on a plate and refrigerate until the oils are solid again, around half an hour.
4. When the paste is cool, use a teaspoon to break down little pieces and shape them into balls, rolling them between your palms (you can make them larger if you want).
5. When they're all shaped, coat them either in more shredded coconut or in cocoa. To do this, put a couple tablespoons coconut or cocoa in a plate, place the truffles on it and move the plate for the truffles to roll and coat.

These truffles keep well in the fridge, but, as any traditional truffle, they are best if left to temper for a while before eating. The flavor of ras el hanout was hardly noticeable in the batch I made, I guess the cocoa flavor is too strong to offset, but a slight heat revealed at the end of each bite... Next time I will add more heat... yummy. And by the way, if you want to see the face of your less adventurous guests when they bite into one of these truffles, let them believe these are regular ones... it's your chance to have a good laugh.

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Butternut squash and tomato soup with ras el hanout

I've been hooked to the spice mixture ras el hanout ever since I tried it in this lamb dish. After buying it, the moment I remembered once in a while about the jar quietly resting in my cupboard, I went to the kitchen, I opened the jar and sniffed... Absolutely true. As I already told you everything about it in the mentioned post, I won't repeat it here. Just read it, study it and I will cold-call you one of these days... At that time, I used the sauce remaining from the lamb tagine to make a tasty veggie soup that disappeared almost immediately. So here it is another delicious soup with ras el hanout.


This rustic soup is in fact inspired in this one, which is made with roasted vegetables instead of the boring boiled variety, and it's then pureed. Let's get to work.

Tomato and butternut squash soup with ras el hanout

• 1 medium-small butternut squash
• 5 good tomatos (organic is better, then maybe they'll have some taste)
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 onion
• A dash of olive oil
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 tbsp ras el hanout (or 3/4 if you like a spicier soup)
• Salt to taste

This soup is incredibly simple to prepare and it's good for lunch and as a first course. The roasting gives it a very different flavor from that of plain boiled vegetables. But remember it's not the best choice for kids, because the ras el hanout adds a slight heat.

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
2. Cut the butternut squash in quarters. Cut the tomatos in half. Put both on an oven tray (better lined with aluminum foil). Drizzle with some olive oil. Add the unpeeled cloves of garlic.
3. Peel the onion and wrap in aluminum foil.
4. Slide the tray in the oven. Watch the garlic carefully, if it's tender will only take 10 minutes to roast. The rest of the vegetables will take around half an hour, except the onion, which usually takes longer.
5. Once all the vegetables are tender and thoroughly cooked, take them out and leave to cool slightly. Then peel the garlic and squash.
6. Put all the vegetables in a food processor or blender, add the water and puree to the desired fineness. You won't need to peel the tomatos if you're device is powerful enough. You can add more water if you like it thinner. I personally like my soup thick and chunky... very rustic.
7. Then add the spice and salt and boil the soup for 5 or 6 minutes for the flavors to meld. Test for salt and serve!

When you smell the aromas in your house after preparing this soup, you'll also get hooked to ras el hanout...

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Moroccan style lamb tagine

I've wanted to make a tagine for long, and I finally found the drive to do it thanks to the monthly roundup of the Spanish blog Hecho en mi cocina. The proposal for June was Arabic and Middle East food, so I couldn't resist any longer. Maybe I'm losing the sense of taste as I grow older, but I like spicy and hot food more and more every day. The story of my choosing this dish begins some time ago...


The thing is that one of my books on bread (one of many!) includes a recipe for a Moroccan bread with "ras el hanout". This lead me to do some research (ahem...) on this serious matter. For those of you who didn't know about it, like me, ras el hanout is a misterious spice mix, with as many formulas as Moroccan households. During my research and investigation... I found many interesting recipes along the way, the one I present here was among them. Then, some time later, while leisurely wondering in a supermarket my eyes fell upon a jar of... ras el hanout! My eyes nearly popped out of my head! I never thought I could find it in a regular supermarket. This is thanks to the many Moroccan immigrants we have. I had to buy it. When I arrived home I noticed the ingredients were not listed on the label... don't they push the secret-formula-thing a bit too far? Especially because it is compulsory to state the ingredients in the label.


Anyway, with my ras el hanout of unknown composition I decided to gamble with my family's health as well as my own and try this thing on a tagine. Tagines are a type of stew, typically cooked in these very beautiful pots with conic lid. Oops, this is a kind of pot I don't have! Well, to the point:

Moroccan style lamb tagine with ras el hanout (adapted from the blog Soulsman.com)

For the from-scratch ras el hanout:

• 1 1/4 tsp allspice
  
• 1 nutmeg
• 20 strands saffron
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
  
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp mace
• 1 stick cinnamon
  
• 2 tsp cardamom seeds
  
• 2 2-in pieces dried ginger (or 1 piece grated fresh ginger)
  
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
  
• 1 tsp dried rose petals
  

For the tagine:

• 1 kg lamb shanks, cut into slices about 1 1/2 in thick (I had a whole leg... and I didn't have the tools nor the strenght necessary to cut it in smaller pieces, so there it went into the pot...)
• 4 tsp ras el hanout
• 125 g carrots, peeled and cut in chunks
  
• 2-3 onions, sliced
  
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 4-5 potatoes, peeled and cut in chunks
• 250 g tomatoes, thickly sliced
• 75 g dried apricots (I doubled the amount, 150 g, I thought it was too little)
• 2 tsp honey
  
• 1 liter chicken or vegetable stock (I used plain water)
• 3 bay leafs
  
• 1 tsp salt (to little, I added at least 3 tbsp to overcome all the sweetness of the vegetables. You have to adjust depending on whether or not you use salted stock)

The recipe includes some couscous for garnish, but you can use rice also. I prepared some spelt couscous, but I must admit... again... that couscous is not my cup of tea.

To make the ras el hanout: mix all the spices and process them in a powerful food processor or coffee mill (clean the coffee mill before using it for this. Grinding some rice would do the trick). I've already told you how I had some smuggled ras el hanout, to add some color to my colorless life. Therefore no spices, no mill, no nothing.

Salt the lamb. Put some olive oil in a large pan, large enough to hold all the ingredients inside, and brown the lamb. Once it is as crisp as you like, put it aside. Stir-fry the onion till tender and translucent. Add the crushed garlic, fry a little, then add the ras el hanout... everything turns yellow! And the aroma is hard to describe... I suddenly felt like doing a belly dance... Then continue stirring and frying the yellowish mix for a minute or two so that the spices release their aromas, then add the rest of the vegetables along the dried apricots. Stir well for the vegetables to soak the spices, leave for another minute, then add the meat on top of the vegetables and add the stock or water. Lately I refuse to use any store-bought stock full of additives and glutamates. Being that I didn't have any frozen homemade stock in stock... I added water. It must cover the lamb almost completely. Then add the bay leafs, the honey and salt. You can adjust the salt later as you go.

Bring to a gentle boil and let simmer for 1.5-2 hours. After one and a half hour try the lamb for tenderness. I had to take out the lamb and vegetables and let the sauce reduce somewhat further, because it was a bit too liquid.


Don't you think my earthenware dish from Úbeda is simply gorgeous? Please, say yes.

Result: the vegetables garnish and the sauce are de-li-cio-us, addictive, with the precise hot touch. Not cutting the lamb was, on the other hand, a bad idea. The center of the shank was a bit hard. Besides, small chunks of meat tend to soak the flavour of the sauce more. I knew... but I couldn't do it any other way. Anyway, now I have an awful lot of scrumptious sauce with vegetables, I'm thinking about processing it and making a wonderful Moroccan soup...

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