Savory Empanada Roasted Vegetable & Cheese Tarta

Instructions

In a large bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Cut the butter into cubes and add to the bowl. Having your hands or pastry blender, work the butter into the flour until you have small pieces in pea size. Similar to pie crust texture. Put the bowl into the fridge or freezer to keep it cold for a few minutes.

In a small bowl, mix together the egg, water and vinegar, until homogeneous.

Pull out your bowl from fridge and add the egg mixture to the flour mixture. Use your fork to gently mix together until there are no visible wet areas. Use your hands to help form a ball. It will seem like too much flour which is ok.

Lay out a large piece of plastic wrap and dumb dough into wrap. Shape into a disk and wrap the dough with the rest of plastic wrap ensuring the dough is well sealed. Place in fridge for 1.5 hours.

For the Empanada Tarta:

Ingredients:

1 medium butternut squash, peeled and chopped

2 medium onions, peeled and sliced

8 oz mushrooms, chopped

1 head of broccoli, chopped

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

6 Tbsp cream cheese

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup Ricotta cheese (optional)

Herbs such as chives, oregano, parsley (optional)

Preheat oven to 400. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Toss the veggies with olive oil and spread on baking sheet. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Bake 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes until veggies are tender and slightly caramelized. Remove from oven and let cool.

Sprinkle a clean work surface with flour. Remove dough from fridge and from plastic. Place dough disk on flour surface and sprinkle more flour on top. Roll out into 1/4” thickness and extends beyond a 9” springform pan. About 2” extended. Carefully transfer dough to pan and let sink to bottom. And using your hands shape up sides of pan so the dough stays up. Put back in fridge to chill for a few minutes.

Preheat oven to 425.

When veggies are cooled and dough is chilled then you can start to fill your tarta. Spread about 3 Tbsp cream cheese on bottom. Add half the veggies. Sprinkle about 2 Tbsp of Parmesan over veggies. And any fresh herbs like Oregano, chives, parsley. Add last of cream cheese, using dollops to drop on veggies. You can drop dollops of ricotta as well. Add the rest of the veggies. Add rest of Parmesan cheese. You can more herbs and dollops of ricotta on top. Gently lift the extended 2” of dough and fold over onto veggies over lapping the dough in a nice formation leaving a nice opening in center to see the veggies.

Cover pan with foil and bake 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 25-30 minutes until pastry is golden brown. Let cool for 5-10 minutes in springform pan. Carefully remove Tarta from pan and cool another 5 minutes before serving.

Serve with Chimichurri

To make sauce:

1/4 cup coarsely chopped parsley

3 Tbsp red wine vinegar

4 large garlic cloves, minced

2 tbsp fresh oregano leaves

2 Tsp crushed red pepper

Kosher salt and ground pepper

Olive oil

Place all ingredients in food processor expect olive oil and blend until smooth. Transfer sauce to bowl and pour olive oil over the mixture. Let stand for 20 minutes for flavors to marry.

Notes: this sauce is fabulous used on grilled chicken or steak. Also good for a dipping sauce with rustic bread.