Vegan Pumpkin & Chestnut Tart

I apologise for lack of posts! Working two occupations has left little time for cooking experiments and I've fallen into the trap of cooking from the books. But now that I have a bit of time to breathe I should have a few up for you in the next couple of weeks. 

Autumn is my favourite time of year. The vibrant red and gold leaves against muted browns and sparkling green moss; the mellow warmth of an afternoon and the crisp cool evenings when Mr Sprout lights the fire and we settle in for the evening. The harvest has been gathered and the farmers markets and the grocer are full of the bounty of a good summer. I feel we are spoilt for good local produce 

in Australia, and especially the mountains where I live. Despite my lack of input this last season (although I was full of good intentions, not full of time) the garden managed to produce without me. We have plenty of spuds, and I have been making potato bakes - good comfort food. The pumpkin vine managed to produce 10 decent sized fruit, and the kale hasn't gone to seed so I've left it for the winter. We have oodles of purple garlic, some of which I replanted, and plenty of red shallots (also some of which was replanted). I even got in some early broad beans which have taken off - so not bad considering.

But what to do with the pumpkins? I made a pumpkin and chestnut tart, with roasted red shallots, spinach, mushrooms, sage, and garlic. All lovely autumn goodies. don't be daunted by making pastry. The beauty of this one is I did not blind bake, and it still cooked beautifully on the bottom. The trick is not to roll your pastry too thick. Freezing before baking I found helps prevent the pastry shrinking back too, and I didn't bother to let the dough rest before I rolled it. I don't know about you but letting the dough rest always means to me it goes too hard and I can't roll it, so I don't bother - putting it in the freezer works just as well, if not better. It's up to you.

Pastry

2 cups plain flour

100 gr copha

50 gr nuttelex

pinch salt

cracked black pepper

cold water

Method

Grate copha, and rub through flour with nuttelex until you have what looks like coarse breadcrumbs. Add salt, and pepper to your taste (Mrs Bean and myself get a bit excited about pepper, but you can omit it if you like).

Add a little water, enough to bring the mixture together into a firm, slightly sticky dough. I typically use about 2 tablespoons, but on a warm day I may use a little more. Knead for a minute or two, and roll out to about 3 mm thick on a floured bench. 

Press into a lightly greased tart tin (I used a long rectangular tin) and pinch the excess off the top. Put into the freezer while you do the filling, or you can cover and leave in the freezer until you need it.

Filling

2 cups cooked pumpkin, half of which needs to be mashed, the other half roughly chopped

1 large  roasted red shallot bulb, chopped

5 large roasted chestnuts, chopped

small handful sage leaves

1/4 tsp chilli flakes

handful spinach leaves

small handful raisins or cranberries

1/2 cup button mushrooms, sliced

1/4 tsp crushed coriander

pinch allspice

Method

Roast the pumpkin and shallots and allow to cool.

Mash one cup pumpkin and spread onto the base of the frozen tart shell.

Sprinkle remaining pumpkin pieces onto mashed pumpkin with other ingredients, and drizzle with garlic infused olive oil.

Place in a a 180C preheated oven for approximately 25 - 30 minutes, or until pastry is light golden.

Chopped Challenge: Popcorn Crumbed Pumpkin Hashbrown with Apricot & Beetroot Relish

This post is my crack at Isa's Vegan Chopped Challenge. The participating ingredients are: butternut pumpkin, fresh rosemary, popcorn, and apricot preserves(jam). It has to be a brunch dish, so what is better than ahashbrown? A crumbed hashbrown, with pumpkin! The texture on the outside was lovely and crunchy, and hey, these are gluten free as well!

Ingredients

Hash brown

2 cups fresh popped popcorn, pulsed in food processor to a coarse crumb

1 cup cooked pumpkin

1 cup cooked potato

2 tablespoons fresh rosemary

1 tsp. ground coriander

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Pinch ground chilli

Oil for frying

Relish

1 beetroot, peeled, chopped

1 onion, peeled chopped

1 cup apricot jam

½ cup balsamic vinegar

To make the relish, gently fry onion and beetroot in olive oil until onion is transparent.

Add jam and balsamic vinegar, and cook until beetroot is cooked, and mushy. Set aside to cool.

To make the hash brown, make a thick mash from potato and coarsely chop pumpkin into mixture.

Add spices, mixing well.

Shape into rounds, and roll in popcorn crumbs.

Heat oil in frying pan, and fry hash browns until golden and crisp on each side.

Serve with relish, on wilted greens. Goes great with sautéed mushrooms and tomatoes!

Pumpkin Hotcakes with Spiced Apricot Sauce & Popcorn Praline

This post is my crack at Isa's Vegan Chopped Challenge. The participating ingredients are: butternut pumpkin, fresh rosemary, popcorn, and apricot preserves(jam). It has to be a brunch dish, so this is my attempt at a sweet dish. I was a bit hesitant, because I've never had pumpkin in anything sweet. Nope, nothing. They turned out better than expected, after my head got around the fact I was putting pumpkin in hotcakes. I still don't think I'm ready for pumpkin pie though...

Ingredients

Hotcakes

½ cup cooked pureed butternut pumpkin

1 cup plain flour

¾ cup rice milk

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. apricot jam

¼ tsp. cinnamon

Spiced Apricot Sauce

3 tablespoons apricot jam

2 tablespoons water

¼ tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary

Popcorn Praline

½ cup fresh popped popcorn

225 gr caster sugar

110ml water

Method

Hotcakes

Whisk rice milk, flour, and baking powder together, making sure to remove any lumps.

Add jam, cinnamon, and pureed cooked pumpkin, adding a little water if too thick.

Allow to stand for an hour.

Drop spoonfuls into an oiled frying pan, and flip over when bubbles appear. Cook until golden.

Praline

In a saucepan, mix caster sugar and water, and stir over low heat until mixture thickens and turns golden.

Line a baking tray with greaseproof and spread the popcorn over it.

Pour hot praline syrup over the top and shake to ensure even distribution.

Allow to cool.

Sauce

Mix all ingredients in small saucepan, and bring to a simmer. Set aside to cool.

To serve, Drizzle sauce over hotcakes, and top with shards of praline.

The Twelve Posts of Christmas: Pumpkin Wellington

On the first day of Christmas my vegie lover made for me...A Pumpkin Wellington with Onion Gravy...

I will admit, I stole the idea from Jamie Oliver for this one. Last year he did the vego spread for Delicious magazine, and this year he has done another one - including a vegan option God bless him. I have tweaked his version considerably to be a bit more Australian, but it's still  Christmassy and above all, absolutely delicious.

Ingredients
2 sheets of ready rolled puff pastry
1/2 butternut pumpkin
1 small red chilli
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp coriander seed
two rosemary sprigs
1 large brown onion
2 garlic cloves
1 cup button mushrooms
3 chopped figs
1/2 cup chopped macadamias
1/4 cup pinenuts
 handful fresh sage
1 cup baby spinach leaves
splash of white wine (or lemon juice if you don't use alcohol)
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Peel and chop pumpkin inot bite sized chunks.
Chop onion into small chunks.
Chop 1/2 of the mushrooms into thick pieces.
In a food processor, chop rosemary, garlic, chilli, cinnamon, and coriander finely. If you don;\'t have a food processor, a mortar and pestle will do, or chop with a knife, and then bash between two pieces of greaseproof with a rolling pin.
Combine onion, and chopped herbs and spices and toss through olive oil on a baking tray. Cover with foil, and bake for approximately 1/2 hour to 45 minutes until onion and pumpkin is soft.
set aside and allow to cool.
Chop macadamias and figs, and add to pumpkin mix.
in a frying pan, saute remaining mushrooms and pinenuts in some olive oil until soft, and add the splash of wine, and sage. Allow to cool slightly and puree with spinach and breadcrumbs. Add salt and pepper to taste. Allow to cool completely. This can be done a day or two ahead and kept covered in fridge until ready to use.

Thaw puff pastry sheets.
Overlap two sheets by about 1 cm, and press firmly to adhere. Spread the mushroom and spinach mix over the pastry. Spoon pumpkin mixture over centre, allowing space for pastry to overlap when folded.
Pull up one side of the pastry to cover some of the filling, and keep rolling, to completely cover. Brush with water to create a seal between the two edges, and tuck ends under so filling won't spill out.
Carefully put onto baking tray and bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Cut into thick slices to serve, with cranberry relish and onion gravy.