Beetroot and goat’s cheese are a wonderful pairing – the sweetness of the beetroot is great against the tanginess of the cheese. Walnuts can be used instead of hazelnuts, and a salad dressed with a nut oil vinaigrette is perfect on the side.
Diana Henry’s beetroot, Capricorn Somerset goat’s cheese and hazelnut tart
Serves: 4 as a starter or light lunch
PREP: 20 mins
COOK: 35 mins
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INGREDIENTS:
500g puff pastry
3 large red onions, very finely sliced
4 tbsp olive oil
leaves from 1 sprig of rosemary, chopped
salt and pepper
350g cooked beetroot, cut into quarters
250g Capricorn Somerset goat’s cheese, broken into chunks
2 tbsp hazelnuts, very roughly chopped
a little extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 190oC.
- Roll out the pastry, either into a square or round (or an irregular free-form shape is fine). It shouldn’t be any thicker than a 10 pence piece.
- Put the pastry onto a floured baking sheet and prick it all over with a fork. Then put into the oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and, if the centre has risen, gently flatten it. Turn the heat up to 200oC.
- Meanwhile make the topping. Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the onions. Make sure they get coated with all the fat, add 2 tbsp water, season and cover the pan. Turn the heat down very low and let the onions sweat for about 20 minutes. You need to check every so often to make sure they’re not catching and burning at the bottom. You may need to add a splash more water. The onions should be completely soft.
- Stir in the rosemary. If the mixture is very moist – almost wet – turn the heat up to drive off the excess. You don’t want too wet a mix to go on top of the tart.
- Top the pastry with the onions, leaving a rim of about 4 cm round the edge, then add the beetroot wedges, then the crumbled cheese. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.
- Put this back into the oven and cook for 10-15 minutes, scattering the hazelnuts over the top 3 minutes before the end of cooking time (they just need to get toasted). The cheese should be golden in patches and the pastry should be cooked but not too dark in colour.
- Serve immediately. If you like you can add sprigs of watercress or leaves of rocket once the tart is cooked – just strew them over the top and serve.
