Butternut Thyme Tartlets -- The Food That Connects Every Version of You

Week 340. Fall 2022. I am 39 years old and standing in my kitchen — the Bench house kitchen, the one that held cancer and divorce and cinnamon rolls — and the stove is on and something is cooking and the house smells like cinnamon and falling leaves and this is my life. This is the life I built.

The garden is winding down, the last harvest, and I stood in it this week and thought about dirt and time and the way both of them turn nothing into something if you're patient enough.

Mason is 11 and reading everything he can find and examining the world under a microscope with the intensity of a tenured researcher.

Lily is 9 and riding horses with the fearlessness of someone who has never considered the possibility of falling.

I made pumpkin bread this week. The food continues. The food always continues. It is the thread that connects every week to every other week, every year to every other year, every version of me to every other version — the woman on the kitchen floor, the woman at the chemo recliner, the woman at the grill, the woman at the outdoor table under the string lights. All of them, connected by the food they made with their hands. All of them, me.

Standing in that winding-down garden, hands still carrying the smell of earth and cold air, I needed something that honored the season without asking too much of me — something that said fall the same way the pumpkin bread did, but in a different register. These butternut thyme tartlets are that recipe: simple enough to make on a quiet weeknight, grounded in the same harvest flavors that have threaded through so many of my kitchen weeks, and just elegant enough to feel like a small act of celebration for the life I’ve managed to build.

Butternut Thyme Tartlets

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 45 min | Servings: 12 tartlets

Ingredients

• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
• 2 cups butternut squash, peeled and diced small (about 1/2-inch cubes)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (plus extra for garnish)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 1 egg, lightly beaten (for egg wash)
• 1 tablespoon honey, for drizzling

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven. Heat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Roast the squash. Toss diced butternut squash with olive oil, thyme, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Spread on the prepared baking sheet and roast for 15–18 minutes, until tender and lightly caramelized at the edges. Remove and let cool slightly.
3. Prepare the pastry. While the squash roasts, unfold the thawed puff pastry on a lightly floured surface. Cut into 12 equal rectangles. Place on a second parchment-lined baking sheet. Use a knife to score a 1/4-inch border around each piece without cutting all the way through.
4. Add the filling base. Mix ricotta and Parmesan together. Spread a small spoonful of the ricotta mixture inside the scored border of each pastry rectangle.
5. Top with squash. Divide the roasted butternut squash evenly over the ricotta layer on each tartlet.
6. Egg wash. Brush the exposed pastry borders with the beaten egg.
7. Bake. Bake at 400°F for 18–22 minutes, until the pastry is puffed and deep golden brown.
8. Finish and serve. Remove from oven, drizzle lightly with honey, and scatter a few fresh thyme leaves over the top. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 148 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 9g | Carbs: 14g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 162mg