Roast pumpkin and goat feta go together like tea and biscuits – that is to say, perfectly! Here’s our delicious recipe for a pumpkin and goat feta tart that perfectly marries the two.
A fast-growing annual vine producing abundant leaf-mass and large edible fruits, pumpkin (Cucurbita spp.) is a particularly useful food plant.
Permaculture uses include:
- Can be cooked in sweet or savoury dishes (roast pumpkin and pumpkin soup are classics of course).
- The seeds are edible, containing good amounts of zinc among other nutrients.
- Flowers are edible, shoots and young leaves can be added to stir-fries or steamed.
- The whole vine can be chopped and slow- cooked in soups and stews.
- Seeds are also used medicinally.
- Many cultivars can be stored for months.
- Cut into chunks, pumpkins make a great stockfeed for goats, cows and even chickens.
- Lush growth and spreading habit make the plant an excellent living mulch, shading the ground and supressing competing plants; it is particularly useful under establishing fruit trees.
If you’re lucky enough to have pumpkins in abundance from your own vegie patch (or you simply source from your local farmers’ market or food co op), you’ll love this roast pumpkin and goat feta tart recipe.
And if you’re keen to make your own goats cheese, check out our recipe from Mara Ripani of Village Dreaming here.
Roast Pumpkin & Goat Feta Tart Recipe
Ingredients:
Makes two
- 3 cups plain flour
- 1⁄2 cup olive oil
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon salt
- a little cold water
- 1 tray of roasted pumpkin (cut pumpkin into bite-sized cubes, and roast it with a splash of olive oil and sea salt)
- Sautéed onion/garlic/flavour (depending on what you have in the garden)
- 2 capsicum, diced
- 1 bunch spring onion, chopped
- 250 grams goat feta, crumbled
- Salt, pepper and fresh garden herbs, to taste
- 12 eggs
- 150 grams fresh goat cheese
Method:
Pastry
I usually do this the day before, but an hour or so in the fridge should be fine. Combine flour, oil, egg yolk and salt in a large bowl. Add water slowly, until the mixture holds together well. Place the dough in an airtight container in the fridge.
Remove the dough from fridge and, using a rolling pin, make two tart bases. Place the pastry in greased tart shells, and use a fork to puncture holes in the bottom. Bake blind in a moder- ate oven until golden brown.
Filling
Mix all the filling ingredients together until it looks delicious, taste it as if it’s a deluxe salad, and then add whatever comes to mind to bring it to perfection. Fill the tart bases with mixture.
Custard
Blend the eggs and cheese, and pour the mixture over the filling. Bake the tarts in a moderate oven until firm. If they go brown on top, but are not firm in the centre, reduce heat until they’re cooked.
