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I am always looking for new recipes during the holiday season that are vegetarian, wholesome and make a great centerpiece for a family dinner. This tart checks all those boxes. I often notice that for the non-meat eaters, there isn't really a good, balanced holiday food item. Here, I have tried to combine some of the major food groups into one recipe in this colorful and filling tart - lentils provide a good plant based protein source, the egg custard and vegetables provide important nutrients like vitamins and minerals and the tart shell.. well, the pastry is just a delicious vessel to carry everything in. Do make this the centerpiece for this holiday and share with your loved ones!
Serves: 4 to 6, Time: 2.5 hrs (includes baking time)
Ingredients:
Tart shell:
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar (optional)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup + 2 tbsp canola oil
1/4 cup cold water
Lentils:
2 tsp olive oil
1.5 cups cooked brown or green lentils
1/4 cup finely chopped white onion
2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp paprika
salt
ground black pepper
Egg custard:
2 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup shredded cheese (I used cheddar)
salt
ground black pepper
Spiral vegetables (Pick long vegetables that will produce long slices)
1 orange fleshed sweet potato
1 purple sweet potato
1 Russet potato
1 green zucchini
1 big carrot
Other ingredients:
2 tbsp olive or canola oil to brush the tart
1 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp salt
Directions:
Prepare the tart shell: Pre-heat oven to 375F. Whisk together the dry ingredients. In a separate container, whisk the oil and cold water together. Add the oil+water mixture into the dry ingredients and using a fork, stir until dough comes together. Tip the dough into a 9" pie pan and with the help of your hands or the bottom of a cup, pat the dough across the bottom of the pie pan and up its sides. The tart will be about 5 to 7 mm in thickness.
With a fork, poke some holes into the tart to avoid swelling, Place a piece of parchment paper over the tart shell and fill with uncooked beans or rice to add weight. Blind bake the tart shell at 375F for 12-15 minutes until it turns golden.
Prepare the lentils: In a frying pan, heat the oil and once warm, add the onions. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes till onions turn translucent. Then add the cooked lentils, thyme and paprika and stir for 2 minutes. Season with salt and crushed black pepper (Do a taste test before adding salt. If lentils were cooked with salt, this lentil-onion mix may not need more).
Prepare the egg custard: Add all the ingredients for the custard into a bowl and whisk to combine.
Prepare the vegetables: Thoroughly wash all the vegetables and dry with a kitchen towel. I kept the skin on all the veggies to keep the vibrant colors. Using a peeler or a mandolin, slice all the vegetables length-wise. The zucchini is more flexible and so, slice it to achieve 3mm thickness. The root vegetables should be sliced thinner (1-2 mm thick) so that they can be arranged in a spiral without them snapping.
Assemble the tart: Remove the parchment paper and beans used for blind baking the tart shell from the pie pan. Add the onion-lentil mix into the blind baked tart shell and spread across the bottom to create the first layer of the tart.
Pour the egg custard evenly over the lentils. The lentils and egg custard form a base on which the spiral vegetables will rest.
Arranging the vegetables in a spiral: Create your vegetable spiral starting from the center and moving outwards. Choose the most flexible vegetable strip as your center (I chose zucchini). Wrap the first slice of zucchini around your index finger to create the center. Pick your next vegetable slice (the order of the vegetables does not matter. We want to create a random spiral of colors). Overlap this slice with the end of the zucchini spiral and wrap it around the zucchini. Continue this process with the remainder of the slices to build out your spiral.
I initially held the spiral in my hand as I was building it until it reached about 3 inches in diameter. At this point, I placed it in the center of the tart, over the egg custard and continued building the rest of it till I reached the edge of the pie pan. I pushed the vegetable strips into the lentils to stabilize them a bit but try not to drown the vegetables in the lentils and eggs.
Once the spiral is arranged, brush some oil over the top and sprinkle some salt and rosemary evenly over the vegetables.
Bake the tart at 375F for 45 to 55 minutes (until vegetables slices have cooked through).
Pull out of the oven and allow the tart to rest for at least 10 minutes before serving.
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