Caramelised red onion and butternut squash quiche (vegan, gf)

As an Oddbox subscriber, I get to experience the “morning of Christmas” feeling every week – even though I always check first what’s going to be in the box, party for curiosity and partly for meal planning during the week, which, I know, sounds super boring but also having both time and mind consuming jobs, my husband and I, is very helpful when you cannot be bothered to think after work in the evening– while unboxing all those colourful amazes and storing them carefully in the fridge or wherever we can, as we live in the cutest and tiniest flat. This week, we have several wonders, but the true princess was the butternut squash – I mean, obvi, right? And we were looking forward to cook one of our favourite soups but I had a crappychallenging week, so I just decided to turn all my tiredness and frustration into a savoury tart. Which I know is tricky with pumpkin because it’s so sweet, but I managed to cheat the quiche into being very savoury, also thanks to the ton of red onions that were in the same box. 

This is both a vegan and gluten-free recipe.

Ingredients (I list my ingredients in chunks according to the steps of the recipe – when I follow recipes I usually re-write them like this because it helps me keeping some sort of flow of thought; however, I understand that when having to shop for the ingredients this type of list doesn’t help at all, so there is the full list at the end of the recipe!) 

Crust (for a 13×36 cm rectangular baking tin; if leftover using a smaller dish, the crust can be shaped into a flat square, wrapped in cling film and stored in the freezer for 1 month)

Dry:

375 g buckwheat flour 

1 tsp salt 

1 tbsp poppy seeds 

a generous grind of black pepper 

½ tsp nutmeg

Wet:

160 ml vegetable oil 

2 tbsp water (but you might need to use one or two more, I usually proceed adding it very slowly and see how the dough looks) 

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and then add the oil, mixing. Then, cautiously, add the water. Knead for up to one minute: when the dough forms a solid ball it’s ready. This dough looks sandy and crumbly. Well, it is sandy and crumbly. After lining with parchment the dish and greasing it, I find it more efficient to stash the dough with my hands modelling it against the baking dish. It’s impossible to roll out with a rolling pin, don’t even bother to try – I did it the first time I tried to make a tart with this dough and I almost lost my mind. BUT it works great, it’s my favourites crust (and I have eaten my share). 

Freeze for 30-60 mins, it will help. 

While the crust chills (hahaha, I am so sorry) in the freezer, prepare the:

Filling 

Squash filling: 

1 butternut squash (~1 kg) – you will not use all of it but most of it if using a dish as large as mine 

1 tbsp olive oil 

2/3 tsp salt 

grind of pepper 

pinch of nutmeg 

Chop the squash and cover it with the oil, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Roast it in the oven at 200 degrees for ~30 minutes: you want it to be “mushable” but not too much, and when you will extract it, mush it a bit, just to avoid having rigid blocks. It will cook again with the rest of the ingredients, so you don’t want to overcook it. 

While the pumpkin is roasting, go with the 

Onion filling: 

300g red onions 

Pinch of salt

4 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp vinegar

1 tbsp agave syrup 

Cook all the ingredients in a medium saucepan with a medium-high flame. Stir frequently. It will take approximately 20-30 minutes to have a saucy texture. The colour of the sauce has to brown a bit. 

I used 3 tbsp of this in the final filling, the rest is great with other savoury stuff, like with sultanas on a radicchio/kale/radish salad – that kind of flavours. Or for those who eat it with cheese and crackers and red wine, I guess. For those of you not eating cheese: I tend to like a lot the Sainsbury’s free from line, I once found a great feta which may not be perfect with this pairing, but the cheddar is also pretty good. I am still looking for a vegan brie (if you know of any please let me know, I think I need it). 

Once all the filling ingredients are cooked, put them together in a bowl to cool down. For this quiche I used all the squash, 3 tbsp of the agrodolce onion mixture and I added: 

¼ tsp ground cloves 

5 ground walnuts 

8-10 black olives – these cut through the sweetness of the pumpkin very effectively and pair really well with the onion. 

Fill the pre-baked tart with the final filling and cook for 30 minutes at 160 degrees. Sometimes if I am not super convinced that it’s as baked as I wish, I turn off the oven and leave it there for 10 minutes, this usually does the trick. 

Beware, the shell is very very sandy and crumbly, but it melts in your mouth. It is easy to remove the tart from the baking dish, but when cut it will crumble a bit – don’t worry if this happens, it’s totally normal. I hope you will enjoy eating this tart as much as we did :3 

All ingredients:

375 g buckwheat flour 

1 tsp salt + 2/3 tsp salt + pinches here and there

1 tbsp poppy seeds 

a generous grind of black pepper 

½ tsp nutmeg (x2)

160 ml vegetable oil 

2 tbsp water

1 butternut squash (~1 kg) 

1 tbsp olive oil 

300g red onions 

4 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp vinegar

1 tbsp agave syrup