Tallow Roasted Squash and Cheddar Quiche

With sage, walnuts and an all-butter pastry crust

It’s Halloween, a time to welcome in the darkness of winter and bid a farewell to the long, bright days of summer. It’s a celebration of transition and resilience as we turn inwards to our comfortable homes, warm hearths and for me, towards more creative endeavours, without the nagging guilt of spending time indoors in peak summer.

With this drop in temperature comes a shift in our menus, which gently coincides with our bodies natural inclinations towards soft, warm and digestible meals. Sweet and piquant peppers, ripe tomatoes and summer squash have lived lives worth celebrating, and now bulbous tangerine-toned hard squash sit heavy on our counters; their flesh versatile and comforting and their bodies round and voluptuous.

I adore all winter squash varieties, from the dessert-sweet butternuts and honeynuts to the duck-egg hued heirlooms that grace the farms in the wine country here. However I do find myself reaching for Kuri and Kabocha squash again and again for their robust starchiness and subtle sweetness that does not seem to overpower savory dishes.

This quiche eats more like a tart as it’s light on the custard but what custard does fill the buttery shell is rich and decadent. The squash is first roasted in savory beef tallow before being layered into a par-baked all-butter pastry case. Silky yolky custard is poured on top followed by a generous amount of crumbly cheddar and walnuts. The quiche is baked until just set and then allowed to cool before eating appropriately for breakfast, elevenses, lunch and dinner. A bitter salad of arugula, radicchio and crisp apple with a spicy mustard vinaigrette is a perfect accompaniment.