Thursday, August 31, 2006

Defending the Honor of My Vegan T' Art

Occasionally Dave will wake me up with the gentle word, "Honey." Occasionally I will respond with the growl, "Honey's not here, I'm black strap molasses-ssss." Today is a day like no other and today I feel the growl rising up deep within my vegan soul. Know that I am usually a nice vegan, but today I have very serious work to do and the honor of vegan cooking ideas and inspiration to defend. This post is my entry into Urban Vegan's T'Art contest... let the battle begin!

The weapons of my warfare:

1 7" pie pumpkin, 1 lb Swiss chard stalks removed and greens chopped, and 1 large sweet vidalia onion - all from my garden

14" deep dish tart pan, large sharp knife, and vegetable peeler

One 375 degree oven

(see other supplies needed for the journey below)


Preparation for the Battle:
100% Spelt Tart Crust
The Battle Frontline ....Don't mess with me!


















The Defensive Details:

Cook the diced pumpkin (I use a pampered chef microwave vegetable steamer, but you can steam it anyway you want).

I used a dutch oven pan to combine the chopped greens, cooked pumpkin, and sauteed onions/ garlic.









I proudly present ....
RUSTIC ITALIAN STYLE PUMPKIN AND CHARD SAVORY TART
This is a free form tart. In America tarts are often though to be complex with it's symmetry, precise rows and perfect circles, placing the average fruit and potpie at the level of a culinary demolition derby - to "French" and confounding for Amercan daily fare. This need not be so, a tart is actually just an open faced pie, either sweet or savory and inherently pretty on it's own so there is no need to go to alot of trouble to get a stunning appeal.

No I am not French... American, but today I defend the honor of my vegan t'ART.

THE GORY DETAILS
click link to get recipe(s)
RESOURCES:
COUNTRY BAKING: Simple Home Baking with Wholesome Grains and the Pick of the Harvest by Ken Haedrich (c) 1990. It is not vegan, but with a little skill can be easily veganized. I like his "down home" conversational family style writing. He has an muffin recipe that is an agreement with his wife, she gives birth and he spends a week making all of her favorite foods... the muffin recipe was one of them - it's that kind of chit chat that makes this book appealing to me.

Warriors who boldly marched before me to make today's plight a successful one....
I salute Bryanna
Clark Grogan of Vegan Feast who included a Squash and Kale Savory Tart in a Previous (Oct/ Nov 2005) subscription of Vegan Feast Newsletter. No brave vegan should ever attempt life without this noblest of resources.

Here's a closer look, my tart served with homegrown tomato soup, roasted pumpkin seeds, and chopped pears ....
Oh and about the teaser:
These are just not big enough for the tough job this vegan has to do.
:o)
I'll post again on Monday as I need to regain strength after this battle.
This tart makes a great leftover lunch meal also.
Try it with farmer's market squash and greens if you don't grow your own!

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

what a battle! i enjoy your post a lot but this one was so good!

those mini tart pans looks so cute, i love all those litle cute pans, now i want some, i must try to convince my dh that i need those LOL!

well wishes in the contest!

Jennifer C. said...

That tart looks amazing and sounds so good! Good luck in the competition!

Thanks for your comments on my blog and for answering my questions about canning. I have been trying to leave comments here for a few days, but have been having some trouble since I switched to the beta version of blogger. Hopefully they will get it figured out soon!

spiceislandvegan said...

Good luck Dori! I have tried Bryanna's tart without the spelt but this is a good tart. It is probably wonderful with spelt crust.

I hope you will win!

SIV

Anonymous said...

Good luck, Dori! Your tart looks fab!
I love spelt too, much more than wheat.

Onward! :)

Jody from VegChic said...

Awesome. One of my friends made a blueberry croustade like that for me awhile back.

I had contemplated a dinner tart versus dessert tart, but decided on chocolate!

The other posts...so much good food. Dori, I am jealous that you find the time to post so often. I wish I could!

Anonymous said...

Oh I love pumpkin-based dishes and a spelt crust to boot? That's got to be super tasty!! The presentation looks very impressive. Can't forget to mention the roasted pumpkin seeds. YUM!!!

Nikk said...

OOoh, what a beautiful tart! :)

It sounds really good too! I *love* swiss chard!

urban vegan said...

Make tART, not war. ;)

Mikaela said...

Do you know what I love more about you than this awesome t'ART? The fact that you have a statue of a warrior in a suit of armor at your house. That's just awesome :)

You're the best!

Mikaela

KleoPatra said...

Love the post, you kept me laughing from the "Honey" bit until the not-at-all-bitter end. Loving what you did for the tART contest. A well-deserved weekend break - Dori, you've earned it!

Keep fightin' the good fight; i know you will.

Thanks for the smile today, the bronze soldier standing guard, and for the great tART post. Fun!

Anonymous said...

Dori, I just LOVE you. Someday, I'm going to head up to your neck of the woods and visit you and your family.

I saw your comment about my bread not rising. Yes, I did use red hard wheat which is about the only thing I can get my hands on here besides bleached white flour. I am going to join a new coop - they're kind of far away but I figure for once a month, I can make the drive. Perhaps they'll have white wheat or maybe I can order it online. I love the idea of baking my own bread and really only want to bake wheat bread (I'd rather eat paper than White Wonder Bread) so it kills me when my bread doesn't turn out.

I'll pick up that bread book for sure. I need to buy some other books that I've been procrastinating on so maybe I can get them all at once and save on shipping.

I'll keep you posted and let you know how it goes.

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

holy smokes! i had no idea the competition would be this fierce. "honey's not here...."

Dori said...

Hi all. I have to confess, this whole tart thing was a family project. When this contest thing first came up I was talking with Dave and the kids trying to get a good ART-ful idea to enter. We has some really wild ideas being tossed around.

Second place idea was death by chocolate .... the family was going to look like the massive chocolate tart killed them around our table. I brought up that vegan means nothing died or was tortured so I thought that (although creative) was a bad idea. We really had quite a halloween scene playing out for that thought though.

Then then we received an advertisement about the renaissance faire coming near us in September. Matthew is an avid collector of Lord of the Rings and THIS is his time period. The soldier is actually a part of his basement bedroom decor ... his bedroom wall looks like castle bricks. You'd be surprised when you don't have a TV the creativity that can come out of a family.

Thanks for coming by to see our entry. I have been like a child over here excited to get this peice of t'ART posted.

Tanya Kristine said...

that looks lovely. and deliciuos. too bad we can't all sample the final products!

Anonymous said...

Great post! Your tart looks awesome.I've never thought to use pumpkin in a savory tart. Good luck!

funwithyourfood said...

haha
:) great concept post

I was giggling for a good 2 mins reading it

Jackie said...

Thanks for the visit and info Dori.

The tart sounds amazing must give it a try :)

Candi said...

Hi Dori! Thanks for the comment and your advice on the headaches!

Your tart looks really delicious. I love seeing the ingredients, then seeing the finished tart completed (with shiny metal guard on hand!! Lol!) It looks excellent and is such a different idea from your typical tart. Looks like a great fall dish, and I hope to make it soon, as it gets colder here. Bravo on a job well done!!!!!!!!

For sale!! LOL!

Kuntal Joisher said...

this post is sooooo funny!!! totally totally made me laugh.. hehe.. Yayy for Dori and her family!!

Honey's not here, I'm black strap molasses-ssss.
hehehe.. ROTFL!!!

UV says:
Make tART, not war. ;)
ROTFL again.. so funny!!

and the tart is just amazing..!!

laura k said...

Your tART looks delicious! Mmm... competition is going to be tough!

I thoroughly enjoyed your post--so entertaining!

Shananigans said...

I love the way you wrote this post, and the tART looks amazing! I’m not even a fan of chard normally, but I bet I would like it in the savory yummy pie. Good luck with the contest. I think you just inspired me to try and veganize an heirloom tomato tart recipe a friend sent me a while ago.

MeloMeals said...

Love your tArt... you can't go wrong with pumpking and chard... sooo good...

Love that it was a family ordeal here..