Beetroot, Feta and Thyme Tart

This recipe is from Good Food magazine and we thought we would try the recipe as is and then see if we wanted to change anything, probably the cheeses, a sharp goat’s cheese would be nice, maybe some blue cheese and some toasted walnuts sprinkled on at the end.

As can be the case the recipe didn’t work perfectly first time though it was still really nice, the recipe below is our tweaked one for next time, with all the changes that we think will help it work for us better.

This will be a great one for our glut of beetroot at this time of year as the tart can be cooked from frozen.

We’re having it with a pile of pickled cucumber and grated ginger-dressed courgette.

ingredients

• 650g beetroot
• 235g plain flour
• 50g plain wholemeal flour
• 150g cold butter, cut into cubes
• 8-10 thyme sprigs, leaves picked
• 2 egg yolks (freeze the whites for another recipe)
• 200g ricotta
• 1 lemon, zested
• 150g feta

putting it all together

1. Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Put the beetroots in a roasting tin and wrap the tin tightly in foil. Bake for 45-60 mins, until a sharp knife slides in easily. Leave to cool.Will keep chilled for two days.
2. Put the flour, butter, half the thyme and 1½ tsp salt into a food processor. Pulse the mixture until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add 1 egg yolk and 1½ tbsp cold water and pulse until it clumps together. Bring the dough into a smooth ball.Wrap in baking parchment and chill for 30 mins. Will keep chilled for a day.
3. Cut the root end off the beetroots, peel and thinly slice. Mix the ricotta with the lemon zest and seasoning.
4. Put the pastry between two sheets of baking parchment and roll out to a rectangle, roughly 30 x 20cm and about ½cm thick. Spread the ricotta mixture over the pastry, leaving a border of about 1cm. Arrange the beetroot on top. Scatter with the feta, remaining thyme and some seasoning. Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.
5. Fold the sides of the pastry in to seal. Will keep chilled for a day or frozen for a month.
   Brush the edges with the remaining egg yolk, then lift the tart onto a preheated baking tray.Bake for 30 mins, or 40 mins from frozen.