On my first trip to Paris, I went to a little café for breakfast and ordered Quiche Poireau because the waiter might have recommended it in French and I just nodded anxiously. When I asked what a poireau was, he struggled to describe it, and I ended up picturing some kind of squash.
Eventually I found out that “poireau” means “leek,” and Quiche Poireau is a delicate breakfast pastry of egg and chopped leeks in a golden crust. It is a perfect little slice of heaven. And if you haven’t had leeks before, they’re like a milder onion, but their skin is very thin and they fry up quickly.
However, when I came back to the U.S., I had squash quiche on the brain and came up with this recipe after a couple attempts. Rosemary and butternut squash are a great pair of bitter and sweet fragrance. A little feta cheese adds some tang and the eggs and Parmesan give it a creamy, savory element. It’s a lot of flavor.
The hot water crust is an old family recipe from my future mother-in-law who got the recipe from her mother-in-law. I like my crusts thick, but you can halve the recipe for a thinner, more delicate tart crust, which I think most people prefer.
This is a good recipe for week day meal prep for breakfast because you get about eight slices out of the tart. It is also a good side dish for Thanksgiving, or if you have a mini muffin tin, a very cute hors d’oeuvre.
You can call it a tart or a quiche. Have it for breakfast or offer it as a vegetable side dish on Thanksgiving or Christmas. Pass it around for brunch. It looks pretty and has all the flavors of fall and winter, namely squash, rosemary, and cream. Overall, it’s a little sweet, a little creamy, and mostly savory. Plus it has squash, so it’s healthy-ish…
Butternut Squash Tart Recipe
Serves: 8
Prep time: 45 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes
Nutrition: 100 calories per serving
5 g Fat
8 g Carbs
6 g Protein
Ingredients
3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves removed from the stem and finely chopped
1-2 cloves of garlic
1 leek, chopped
12 oz cubed butternut squash (I use the Trader Joe’s kind)
1 tsp salt, divided
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup raw pine nuts (optional)
5-6 eggs (up to you–eggs come in all sizes!)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (an additional 1/4 cup of feta cheese give this a nice, tangy flavor)
1/2 cup half and half
1 hot water crust (Pillsbury works fine, too!)
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. Combine rosemary, garlic, leek, squash, 1/2 tsp of salt, oil, and pine nuts (if using) in a bowl. Mix until oil is evenly spread over squash.
3. Spread mixture out onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 30 minutes.
4. Once squash is done baking, transfer to a bowl and add 5-6 eggs to the mixture. Add half and half, Parmesan, and remaining 1/2 tsp of salt.
5. Lower the oven temperature to 350 F.
6. Blend the mixture with a hand blender, food processor, or any other mixing appliance that will give a rough puree.
7. Press Jane’s Hot Water Crust into a pie dish (or any ready-made pie crust).
8. Pour squash-egg mixture onto the crust.
9. Bake for 45-50 minutes. Tart will be a golden brown.
10. Allow to cool slightly before slicing.
A fun variation of this recipe is to make mini tartlets using a mini muffin tin. Press small tablespoons of the Hot Water Crust into a mini muffin tin. Spoon in 1 tbsp of pureed squash-egg mixture. Bake for 15 minutes.