Pumpkin Tart with Spinach & Gorgonzola

I haven't cooked an awful lot from Diana Henry's Roast Figs Sugar Snow. I use her Crazy Water Pickled Lemons, with recipes from the Middle East, Mediterranean and North Africa, much more ... but I guess that's because I live in a warm climate and those cuisines just happen to be particular favourites of mine. RFSS is a fabulous book though and one of the first recipes I made from it was this tart which appealed to me straight away as I love all the principal ingredients, butternut squash (which I use here and find much tastier than pumpkin), spinach and Gorgonzola. I made it the first time following the recipe slavishly but I found it a bit too rich and calorie laden, now I make my own pared down version.

This is not a recipe for when you are in a rush, it's more suited to a day when you can spend some leisurely time in the kitchen pottering around, as it takes about two hours to make from start to finish. However, to my mind it is well worth the effort as the resulting tart is absolutely delicious. I generally serve it at room temperature with a herbed couscous salad and it makes a really satisfying and healthy meal. Well that's dinner sorted for tonight, and tomorrow too!

Pumpkin Tart with Spinach & Gorgonzola - Serves 6

for the pastry:
225g plain flour
125g butter
good pinch salt
a little very cold water

for the filling:
450g pumpkin or butternut squash
olive oil
300g spinach
2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk
275ml double cream
30g Parmesan, grated
freshly grated nutmeg
100g Gorgonzola

For the pastry, put the flour, butter and salt into the food processor and, using the plastic blade, process the mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add just enough water to make the pastry come together. Wrap it in foil or clingfilm and refrigerate for about half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4. Cut your pumpkin from top to bottom into broad slices, remove the inner stringy bits and seeds, and peel. Brush lightly with olive oil and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until just tender.

Meanwhile de-stalk and wash the spinach. Put it into a large saucepan, cover and wilt in the water left clinging to it (about 4 minutes over a medium heat). Drain well and leave to cool.

Make the custard by mixing together the whole eggs, egg yolk, cream and Parmesan. Season well.

Roll out the rested pastry and line a tart form 23cm in diameter and 4cm deep. Chill for another 30 minutes (or just stick it in the freezer for about 15 minutes). Prick the bottom of the tart and bake blind - line the pastry with greaseproof paper and put ceramic baking beans or ordinary dried beans on top - in the preheated oven for 7 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and cook for another 4 minutes.

Cut the pumpkin into small slices, about 10cm long and 1cm thick. Squeeze every last bit of water from the spinach and chop it up. Season both of these and add some freshly grated nutmeg to the spinach. Spread the spinach over the bottom of the tart case, then add the slices of pumpkin and dot with nuggets of Gorgonzola. Pour the custard mixture over the tart and bake, again at 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4, for 40 minutes, or until the pastry is golden. Leave for 10 minutes to let the custard finish cooking and set a little once you have taken it out of the oven.