Recipe: Sweet Potato, Sage & Goat Cheese Tart

Over the weekend we put together this super simple autumn tart recipe, using scattered ingredients from our fridge, pantry and garden to create a savory tart just in time for seasonal gatherings — like Thanksgiving.

I adapted the recipe from one of our favorite spring and summertime tart recipes that uses seasonal vegetables, thinking — this tart could be just as good with an autumn and winter spin if I just swap out a few of the main ingredients. We've been trying to think of ways to use up the sweet potatoes from the bushel my mom brought us last weekend, we had leeks leftover from our produce box deliveries and the sage in our potted garden is growing wild!

Ingredients:

• 1 medium sweet potato, thinly sliced
• 1 shallot, thinly sliced
• 4 tablespoons fresh goat cheese
• Small bunch of fresh sage leaves, roughly chopped, reserving a few whole leaves for garnish
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1 9-12 inch pie crust (I went with store-bought)

Preparation:
Heat oven to 375 degrees and unroll your piecrust on a sheet of parchment paper over a sheet pan.

Meanwhile, heat oil on medium high heat in pan and add sliced shallot, stirring until tender, about 4-5 minutes. Stir in chopped sage, a healthy pinch of both salt and pepper and let cook for about 1 minute. Stir in 3 tablespoons of fresh goat cheese (we used store-bought crumbled) and incorporate until almost melted.

Fold in sweet potatoes and toss to coat, then turn off heat.

Spoon potato mixture into the center of the pie crust and spread out evenly, leaving about a 1 1/2 inch border of crust.

Gently fold over sections of the crust border over the edge of the potato mixture in a circular motion until crust is completely wrapping the outer edges of the potatoes. Now we're starting to look like a tart!

Sprinkle remaining goat cheese on top of exposed potato mixture and garnish with a few whole sage leaves.

Place in the oven to cook for 30-40 minutes or until edges are browning and tart is sizzling.

I may have left ours in about 5 minutes too long — it still tasted amazing, but presentation was a tiny bit more charred than I was hoping for. It happens. Especially to those of us that aren't the main cook in the household, ha.

Splits in the crust happened too — shall we call it rustic flair?

I like to slice in triangles around the tart (like a pizza) to serve, though you could slice it any way you like:

The final results were a savory (not sweet) combination and the crust was substantial and flaky. The fresh sage, leek and goat cheese really give it a robust flavor complimenting the sweet potato.

This is one of those dishes that's so versatile in that it could be served as a starter, side or even main vegetarian dish with a light salad on the side. And as you can see, it's something that can be adapted any which way you prefer, depending on the ingredients you have on hand any given day.

P.S. Speaking of using up our sweet potatoes, we made a new batch of sweet potato chips.

Check out the recipe for our homemade version in a guest post Tim wrote for Lot18, here.