Green Kitchen Stories - 1

Dug up out of the soil this earthy, warming root veggie is often underutilised. We love the look of this divine recipe from Green Kitchen Stories which celebrates beetroot in style.  The perfect combination of beets, goat’s cheese and walnuts makes this a winning tart in our minds!

Beetroot, Goat’s Cheese & Walnut Tart

Serves 8

Tart crust

• 1 cup / 100 g rolled oats
• 1/3 cup / 50 g rice flour
• 1/3 cup/ 50 g almond flour
• 2 tbsp linseeds (optional)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 75 g / 5 tbsp cold butter or coconut oil, cut into dices
• 4 tbsp ice-cold water

Filling

• 2-3 beetroots (approx 450 g),
• 1 red onion, peeled
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 tsp fresh or dried thyme
• salt & pepper
• 2 large bunches beet greens (or spinach)
• 1-2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup / 140 ml milk of choice, we used rice
• 100 g goat’s cheese
• 10 fresh mint leaves
• 10 walnuts, lightly crushed
• 2 tbsp honey

Method 

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Add rolled oats, almond flour, rice flour, linseeds and sea salt to a food processor and pulse until the oats have been mixed into flour. Add the diced butter and pulse a few times until you get really small pieces of butter evenly distributed in the flour. (These steps can also be made by hand.) Add the water, pulse until everything comes together. Try to form a ball with your hands. If it feels crumbly, add 1-2 tbsp extra water. Gather the dough into a ball, wrap in cling film and chill for about 30 minutes.

When done, place the dough between two baking papers and use a rolling pin to roll out the dough until you got a rough circle, about 5 mm thick. Carefully transfer it to a 27 cm tart pan. Trim off any excess dough then use a fork to prick it a few times. Blind-bake for 10 minutes to prevent the crust from getting soggy.

Peel the beetroots and grate them coarsely on a box grater or in a food processor.

Cut the onion thinly. Place a large frying pan on medium heat. Add a slab of coconut oil or butter and, when melted, spread out the onion slices evenly in the pan. Fry for 4-5 minutes and then shake the pan and fry them on the other side. Add garlic and thyme and fry for about 30 seconds before adding half of the beet greens (or spinach) together with apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper. When the greens have wilted down, add the rest, stir around and then take the pan off the heat. Beat the eggs together with the milk and then crumble in the goat’s cheese finely. Add sautéed vegetables and mint leaves and stir around.

Arrange the grated beets at the bottom of the tart, reserve some for the top. Pour the egg and greens mixture over the center, make sure that the cheese is somewhat evenly distributed. We usually leave about 2 cm of beetroot untouched towards the edges (just because it’s pretty) but it’s not necessary. Make sure the filling is all moist from the liquid. Tuck in walnut pieces here and there at the top and drizzle over the remaining beetroot shreds. You can drizzle some honey on top before baking if you prefer a bit of caramelised top, or just save it for after it’s baked (or do both if you prefer it a bit sweeter). Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden and firm. Serve with a dollop of Turkish yogurt and some drizzled honey on top.

Images and recipe from Green Kitchen Stories.