Caramelized Sweet Potato And Brussels Sprouts Pastry Recipe
Our recipe developers, like the rest of us, like to keep up with what other food bloggers are doing on social media. As Tess Le Moing tells us, this particular recipe was inspired by a French chef who posted an Instagram video of a vegetable-filled tart. While Le Moing notes that hers "was summer-inspired, filled with mozzarella, tomatoes, onions, and topped with fresh basil," she explains that, "Mine, of course, is more fall-forward."
The autumnal vegetables she's using here are onions and sweet potatoes, both of which are baked in a pastry crust with cheese and honey. "Once done," she says, "flip [the tart] over and you'll have a gorgeously caramelized top." She serves these tarts with a salad made from raw Brussels sprouts mixed with pine nuts and cranberries, something she feels provides "contrast in texture and temperature" to the warm tarts. As a bonus, using Brussels sprouts raw instead of cooking them means you don't have to deal with the smell.
Step 1: Collect the ingredients for the caramelized sweet potato and Brussels sprouts pastry recipe
For the tart filling, you'll need an onion, sweet potatoes, and Gruyère, plus olive oil for cooking and honey, thyme, salt, and pepper for flavoring. You're also going to need pie crust to make the shells. In addition to these ingredients, you'll need Brussels sprouts, mint, pine nuts, and dried cranberries for the salad as well as a lemon and Dijon mustard for the dressing.
Step 2: Turn on the oven
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Step 3: Prepare the sweet potatoes
Trim, peel, and cut the sweet potato lengthwise into ½ inch thick slices. Keeping the slices stacked together, cut into strips. Cut longer strips in half.
Step 4: Season and cook the sweet potatoes
On a baking sheet, toss the sweet potatoes 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Roast for 15-20 minutes until fork-tender.
Step 5: Heat some of the oil in a pan
Meanwhile, brown the onions. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high.
Step 6: Start cooking the onions
Add the onions and stir in ½ teaspoon salt.
Step 7: Keep cooking the onions
Cook the onions, without stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes so they start to brown. Stir and cook for 1 more minute.
Step 8: Finish cooking the onions
Continue to stir every 1 to 2 minutes to get as much browning as possible without burning them. They're done when they're brown but still slightly firm.
Step 9: Deglaze the pan, if necessary
If there are any stuck on brown bits, add a tablespoon or two of water to scrape off that extra flavor.
Step 10: Pour honey on a pan
Drizzle four 3-inch circles of honey on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Step 11: Top the honey with onions
Evenly divide the onions between each circle of honey.
Step 12: Layer the potatoes on top of the onions
Add the sweet potatoes on top of the onions and sprinkle with fresh thyme. You might have some sweet potatoes leftover and that's okay! Snack on them.
Step 13: Sprinkle on some cheese
Finally, top with the Gruyére.
Step 14: Cut up the pie crust
Cut 1 sheet of pie crust into fourths.
Step 15: Cover the vegetables with crust
Drape each piece of pie crust on top of the prepared mounds.
Step 16: Ventilate the pie crust
Poke holes in the pie crust with a fork.
Step 17: Bake the sweet potato tarts
Bake in a 375 F oven for 20 minutes or until caramelized on the bottom. Let the tarts rest for 10 minutes before flipping.
Step 18: Make the salad dressing
While the tarts bake, make the brussel sprout salad. Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, zest, mustard, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl.
Step 19: Make the Brussels sprout salad
Add the Brussels sprouts, pint nuts, and cranberries to the bowl and toss together. Let rest for at least 15 minutes to allow the flavors to meld. This salad can be made a day in advance.
Step 20: Serve the sweet potato tarts
To serve, flip the tarts over and garnish with mint.
How should leftovers be stored?
While this recipe makes 4 tarts, you don't need to do the math to cut it down to size if you're not expecting a trio of dinner guests. As Le Moing says, the tarts can be refrigerated for up to 5 days as long as you store them in an airtight container (this could be either a resealable plastic bag or a Tupperware-type tub). This means that if you make these tarts for dinner on, say, a Monday, you can have the leftovers for breakfast or lunch for the rest of the week.
Le Moing does have some advice to offer when it comes to serving the tarts up for a second time, suggesting, "To reheat, place on a baking sheet in a 350 F oven for 5 to 10 minutes." This will allow them to crisp up again instead of getting soggy as they might in a microwave. The Brussels sprout salad, of course, will not require warming since it's meant to be eaten cold or at room temperature.
What changes can be made to this recipe?
This recipe works so well that it doesn't really need much tweaking, although if you change anything up, Le Moing does say that it's okay to swap out the Gruyère. "Feel free to use any cheese you like," she tells us, suggesting both goat cheese and cheddar as possible types of cheese whose flavors would also work well with sweet potatoes and onions. Le Moing offers another tip that might help if you're in a hurry, saying, "If you want to make life easier and save time, you can buy a salad kit with Brussels sprouts and use that as the topping."
One interesting observation Le Moing makes is that it takes just a single pie crust to make the 4 tarts, while she points out that "most packages come with two." Because of this, she suggests the recipe can be pretty easily doubled to make a total of 8 tarts.
- For the pastry
- 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ pound sweet potatoes
- 4 teaspoons honey
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme
- 1 cup shredded Gruyère
- 1 sheet frozen pie crust, thawed
- 1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- For the brussels sprouts
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small lemon
- ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- 12 ounces Brussels sprouts, trimmed and shredded
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
- 2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
- 2 tablespoons dried cranberries
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Trim, peel, and cut the sweet potato lengthwise into ½ inch thick slices. Keeping the slices stacked together, cut into strips. Cut longer strips in half.
- On a baking sheet, toss the sweet potatoes 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Roast for 15-20 minutes until fork-tender.
- Meanwhile, brown the onions. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high.
- Add the onions and stir in ½ teaspoon salt.
- Cook the onions, without stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes so they start to brown. Stir and cook for 1 more minute.
- Continue to stir every 1 to 2 minutes to get as much browning as possible without burning them. They're done when they're brown but still slightly firm.
- If there are any stuck on brown bits, add a tablespoon or two of water to scrape off that extra flavor.
- Drizzle four 3-inch circles of honey on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Evenly divide the onions between each circle of honey.
- Add the sweet potatoes on top of the onions and sprinkle with fresh thyme. You might have some sweet potatoes leftover and that's okay! Snack on them.
- Finally, top with the Gruyére.
- Cut 1 sheet of pie crust into fourths.
- Drape each piece of pie crust on top of the prepared mounds.
- Poke holes in the pie crust with a fork.
- Bake in a 375 F oven for 20 minutes or until caramelized on the bottom. Let the tarts rest for 10 minutes before flipping.
- While the tarts bake, make the brussel sprout salad. Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, zest, mustard, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl.
- Add the Brussels sprouts, pint nuts, and cranberries to the bowl and toss together. Let rest for at least 15 minutes to allow the flavors to meld. This salad can be made a day in advance.
- To serve, flip the tarts over and garnish with mint.