Chestnut and Winter Squash Tart

I have been on a mission to find chestnuts (not the canned kind you use in stir-fry) ever since I bought this cookbook. This recipe sounds so delicious, and that was the one hard-to-find ingredient. I just recently gave up hoping to find it locally and ordered it online. I ordered roasted chestnuts, peeled, for baking, and they arrived in foil packages. The whole chestnuts in each foil package (5.2 oz), chopped in a food processor, amounts to one cup, so I used two packages, between the crust and the filling. 

The recipe calls for a rectangular tart pan with a removable bottom. As I had no idea such a pan even existed, I just followed the crust recipe (yummy chopped chestnuts in the crust!) and laid the crust in a glass pie pan. It is a heavy crust, but the perfect compliment to the squash filling. I chose two small to medium sized delicata squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into slices for roasting. The recipe calls for shallots. Now, one can always use a regular onion if need be. But I've developed a partiality for shallots, and try to use them as often as possible. The other really essential ingredient, that makes this recipe so savory? Garlic. We buy it at the local health food store and really fresh garlic makes all the difference.

I did skip the fried sage leaf garnish and pomegranate seeds on top of this pie. No fresh sage this time of year, and pomegranate seeds are not my fav.  I do advocate for the chestnuts. I suppose you could substitute some other nut, but once I'd tried the chestnuts, I wouldn't make this recipe any other way.

This pie makes a delicious lunch, served with a green salad. And if you bring it to a fall potluck (maybe next fall, after the pandemic is over?) people will fall in love with it. Young children will likely think they have pulled off the ultimate trick, being served dessert for their meal, never knowing how healthy it is for them.



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