I’ve grown to enjoy beetroot in my Autumn years. I usually oven bake it in tinfoil. Load shedding is getting most South Africans down and it would make more sense perhaps to boil it or buy it ready made. When I see it ready made I usually bypass it as it comes processed with added sugars and vinegar. I prefer to add my own condiments so as not to overpower the beetroot flavours. Last week I bought ready made beetroot from Woolworths. Ingredients listed on the vacuum bag: Beetroot. My kind of label. I had beetroot hummus in mind when I bought it, as well as a beetroot and blood orange salad. The vacuum pack of beetroot was getting lost moving deeper and deeper in the vegetable drawer as I filled it with more vegetables. I had also bought ready made all-butter puff pastry sheets from Woolworths too, so this morning I decided I had to get on and make that hummus. Which I did! … And then one thing lead to another and I was slicing onions and caramelising them for this beetroot tart so that I could use up the puff pastry that was also needing to be used. It was inspired by the Beetroot and Feta galette in my Falastin Cookbook by Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley.
I played around with the cheeses I had in my fridge. I was fresh out of feta, it’s written on the groceries list, staring at me, begging me to go shopping again. I had cream cheese and mozzarella. Serve with a beetroot and blood orange salad. Rocket and spinach leaves also work well. Brian calls this fast food because I didn’t make the pastry and oven-roast the beetroot. I’ve got to love him regardless of his silly chirps.😉
Beetroot Tart
Ingredients
Caramelised Onions
- 1 Tbls Olive oil
- 1 Tbls butter
- 120 g red onion thinly sliced
- 1 Tbls balsamic vinegar I used preserved cranberry balsamic reduction
- pinch of sugar
- 2 sprigs fresh origanum
Cheese mIx
- 50 g crême fraîche
- 60 g cream cheese I used Philadelphia cream cheese
- 1 clove garlic grated
- 1 tsp lime or lemon juice
- 2 sprigs fresh origanum
- salt to taste
remainder ingredients
- 160 g baby beetroot cooked and sliced 6mm thick
- 250 g ready made puff pastry I used 1 sheet of Woolworths All Butter Puff Pastry
- 1/2 tsp hot English mustard
- 80 g grated and roughly torn mozzerella
- 1/4 cup roughly chopped walnuts
Garnish
- 1 Tbls runny honey
- 1 tsp lime juice
- sprig of fresh origanum
Instructions
Onions
- Add the 1 Tbls Olive oil and 1 Tbls butter to a medium heat pan when hot add the 120 g red onion and fry for 3 minutes. add 1 Tbls balsamic vinegar, pinch of sugar and 2 sprigs fresh origanum leaves and cook for a further 4 minutes stiring to ensure they do not burn. Add salt and pepper to taste and set aside to cool
Cheese mIx
- To a bowl add 50 g crême fraîche, 60 g cream cheese mix together to soften to a smooth paste. Add 1 clove garlic grated, 1 tsp lime or lemon juice, 2 sprigs fresh origanum leaves and salt to taste. Mix to and even paste
Assemble to tart
- Place the pastry sheet on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Sprinkle 250 g ready made puff pastry with 1/2 tsp hot English mustard. Add the cream cheese mix on top of the pasty and spread evenly, leaving a 1cm border.
- Add ½ the caramelised onions and the 160 g baby beetroot cooked and sliced 6mm thick.
- Sprinkle 80 g grated and roughly torn mozzerella and the rest of the caramelised onions on top as well as the 1/4 cup roughly chopped walnuts. Fold in the 1cm border to create an edge for easy eating later. This will give the tart a bit of structure when you cut it.
- Bake in a 200℃ preheated oven for 25 – 30 min. You need the base to be cooked and not soggy. If it gets to brown turn it down to 180℃ or cover with foil