This delicious all butter puff pastry tatin was a real staple at Café Maitreya. It is easy to prepare with a great wow factor on presentation. The salsa verde balances the crispy, buttery pastry and slightly caramelised cheese.
Serves 4 - Vegetarian
Equipment needed: A 20cm (approx) diameter flan mould
Ingredients
600gm organic butternut squash
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
Salt and pepper
30gms pumpkin seeds
2 medium red onions (approximately 250g), peeled and finely sliced
250gms all butter puff pastry
160gms smoked Applewood cheddar
Method
Preheat oven to 170°C
Peel and cut the butternut squash into 1 ½ cm cubes then baste with 2 tablespoons olive oil and the honey and salt and pepper, gently roast for 25 minutes or until just cooked through but not taking colour.
In a small pan sauté and stir the sliced red onion with the remaining olive oil on a gentle heat for approximately 10 minutes until beginning to caramelise and turning a rich burgundy colour
Grease and line the baking dish/mould with baking parchment so it slightly overlaps the sides, then evenly scatter in the pumpkin seeds.
Cut the applewood cheddar into long slices (approximately 2-3mm thick) and evenly cover the bottom of the dish over the pumpkin seeds.
Allow the butternut squash and the red onion to cool for 10 minutes. Meanwhile on a floured surface carefully roll the pastry to the shape of the dish/mould and allow ½cm to overlap the filling.
Let the pastry rest for 5 minutes and re-set the oven temperature to 200°C.
Evenly layer the butternut squash on top of the smoked Applewood cheddar. Then evenly spread on the caramelised red onion layer. Finally place on the puff pastry evenly so that all the filling is enveloped with a little overlap.
Bake at 200°C for 25 minutes or until the pastry has risen and is crisp and golden.
