Butternut Squash and Ricotta Cheese Tart / torta di ricotta e zuchine di butternut

Click here to view and print the recipe for BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND RICOTTA CHEESE TART / TORTA DI RICOTTA E ZUCHINE DI BUTTERNUT.

My gratitude goes to Hannah Maclennan, who teaches at Leith’s School of Food and Wine, for the help and advice she gave me in creating a recipe for making pastry that really works.

You can download the pastry recipe by clicking on DOWNLOAD below

Butternut squash is part of the pumpkin plant family and has a sweet, nutty taste. Although botanically a fruit, butternut squash is used culinarily as a vegetable that can be roasted, sautéed, toasted,  and for soups such as squash soup, or mashed to be used in casseroles, breads, muffins, and tarts. It has tan-yellow skin and orange fleshy pulp with a compartment of seeds in the blossom end. When ripe, it turns increasingly deep orange, and becomes sweeter and richer. It is a good source of fibre, vitamin C, vitamin A, magnesium and potassium.

In Liguria, a region in north west Italy, pumpkin is used to cook the savoury pumpkin pie, a great autumn classic. Near the Ligurian capital city of Genoa there is a small village called Murta, which has built a festival around its savoury pumpkin pie. The squash grows abundantly around the village so in November, during the San Martino festivities, the festival has become a popular phenomenon over the years.

Savoury butternut squash tart is a light single dish, a side dish or an aperitif if served in small slices. It is good hot or lukewarm. In short, it is always good as long as the squash is sweet and tasty.