Fall Travel and a Savory Crostata with Butternut Squash

Look for the recipe for this crostata at the bottom of this post.

"There's something about October that stirs the travel lust in me. The seasons change to my favorite one and I want to see how that looks elsewhere, far from home." 

That's what I wrote on October 1st in 2008 on this blog, and that yearning to travel in October is still with me almost two decades later.

I'll be leaving soon for the Pacific Northwest and from there to the Maryland shore and the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia. We just finished a week of 90- 100 degree daytime heat so it takes some imagination and memories to comprehend that in a few days the night time temperature will be close to freezing and in the daytime it will be 30 degrees or so cooler. No more sandals or shorts!

I'm looking forward to family time in all those places. Zoom calls and phone calls are great, but face to face is even better. Because what we are going to eat is often front and center with my family, I'll bet that on my return I'll have some new recipes to share, or at least some stories of delicious eats I had.

Preparing for this trip, with it's longer length than usual, means that I had to figure out how to prep the vitamins, supplements and RX for Sweetie (and myself) and store his here in a way that would make sense to him, especially when we got past seven days since he is here and I won't be. He has a great container with boxes for seven days and, fortunately, I found a used segmented small box that was perfect for holding the following days' pills that could be labeled with the dates past seven. One less thing to be concerned about because we each help the other out with not forgetting to take them when life gets busy.

The other challenge for prep is to pack light but still enough layers to stay warm and some rain gear, too, to stay dry.  Once that's done the rest is just the tedium of airports and airplanes. The sweet part is seeing so many wonderful people!

See 'ya here when I come home.

Now, before I go, I want to share with you a recipe I made this week. It's perfect for this season because it uses butternut squash and mushrooms and onions. More flavor and protein is added with some cooked chicken, sour cream, and three of kinds of cheese. I think the blue cheese really pull all the other flavors together but the mozzarella is important for adding the gooey factor and the Parm the saltiness. You layer these ingredients in the middle of a ready made pie crust then fold the rest of the crust over it all, add a bit more Parmesan, and bake. What a wonderful combination of flaky crust, both mild and zingy dairy, with the savory deliciousness of mushrooms, onions, butternut squash and herbs. I could barely taste the chicken as an ingredient, so you can leave it out if you want to go vegetarian. Don't forget the walnuts. They add a nice crunch!

Here's layer 1

Butternut Squash Crostata with Mushrooms, Onions, Chicken and Three Cheeses 

An Elle the Baker Recipe
Serves 6-8

1 pre-rolled refrigerated pie dough round, such as Pillsbury Readycrust

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup chopped yellow or white onions
4-5 oz. fresh mushrooms, cremini preferred, wiped clean and chopped roughly
1/4 teaspoon dry thyme
1/8 teaspoon paprika
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup sour cream (or use Greek yogurt as long as it isn't really wet)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided (I used the Costco true Parmesan Reggiano
1 small baked and peeled butternut squash, about 1 1/2 cups
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

1 cup cooked, diced chicken

1/4 to 1/2 cup blue cheese (depending on how strong a blue cheese taste you want)

1/4 cup chopped walnuts
salt and pepper to taste

1 egg whisked with 1 teaspoon water

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a pizza pan with olive oil or baking spray or build the crostata on a sheet of parchment cut to fit a pizza pan. If you have one, put a baking stone in the oven on a low rack before turning on the oven.

If cold, bring the refrigerated pie dough round to room temperature. Bring the other ingredients to room temperature, too. 

In a medium skillet, over low heat put the olive oil and heat. Cook the onions in the olive oil  low heat, stirring often, until translucent about 10 minutes.  Add the mushrooms, thyme, paprika, salt and pepper, stir, cover the pan and continue cooking until the mushrooms release their juice, about 3-4 minutes. Uncover, stir often, and cook until mixture no longer has runny juices but is still moist. Set aside, uncovered, to cool.

To assemble the crostata, roll out the pie dough on a lightly floured clean work surface to 10 or 11 inches in diameter. (If you don't have a cake lifter or similar tool to move an 8-inch wide pastry, cut a piece of parchment or foil and place the pie dough on it. If it's foil, lightly grease it with baking spray.

Spread  the sour cream over  the dough circle, leaving a 2-inch edge with no sour cream. This dough will be folded up and over the finished topping later. Sprinkle on 3/4 the Parmesan evenly over the sour cream. Top with the butternut squash as evenly as you can. Top with the onion-mushroom mixture, distributing the vegetables over the squash. 

Sprinkle on the mozzarella cheese. Top with the chicken, then the blue cheese, and then the walnuts, distributing as evenly as possible.

Fold the plain outer edge of the dough over the filling, pleating and folding as needed. Use a pastry brush to coat the egg wash over the dough, including at the back of the pleats and folds. Gently push the egg-washed pleats and folds towards the rest of the dough to adhere Sprinkle with the rest of the Parmesan.

Once the crostata has been filled, pleated and egg washed, check to make sure that the pre-heated oven is hot. Move the crostata to the pizza pan, either using a cake lifter or using the parchment or foil as a sling. Alternately, build the crostata on parchment or foil already on the pizza pan...your choice. I've done it both ways.

If you are using a baking stone, slide the pizza pan onto the stone and bake until the dough is golden brown. If you're not using a baking stone, slide the pizza pan onto the lowest oven rack and bake until the dough is golden brown.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the cheese and walnuts of the filling is beginning to brown, too.

Let cool a couple of minutes, then serve or let cool to warm or room temperature. Serve in wedges.