Blue Cheese and Caramelised Beetroot Tart
Blue cheese has a powerful flavour, but here it is nicely balanced with the sweetness of the caramelised beetroot. This is my Grandma's cheese pastry recipe which never fails me! Once you've had cheesey shortcrust pastry, you'll never want to make regular savoury shortcrust!
For the pastry:
- 110g self raising flour
- 55g grated cheddar cheese
- 70g very cold butter
- 1 tsp paprika
- Pinch of salt
- 2 tbsp beaten egg
For the filling:
- 250g cooked beetroot
- 2tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsp soft brown sugar
- 60g grated cheddar
- 60g blue cheese
- 4 large eggs
- 50ml double cream
- Handful of spinach (about 30g)
- Pinch of salt and pepper
Method:
- In a food processor, blitz the butter, flour, cheese, paprika, and salt until it forms a bread crumb consistency.
- Add the 2 tbsp beaten egg and blitz JUST enough for the dough to come together. You should be able to squeeze it together in your hands to form a ball.
- Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for around 30 minutes.
- Pre-heat your oven to 190C fan
- When the pastry has chilled, roll it out to about 4mm thick in a circle, big enough to line your tin with. I used a 7 inch case, but a 8 inch would still work with this amount of pastry!
- Grease the tin, and then roll the pastry on top, gently pressing down into all of the groves.
- Trim the excess pastry and prick the bottom with a fork.
- To help prevent the pastry from shrinking, I always chill my tart case again before baking - around 20 minutes is fine.
- Blind bake the pastry with baking beans or equivalent for 15 minutes.
- Remove the baking beans and bake for a further 10-12 minutes until the bottom is nicely golden.
- Allow the pastry to cool and meanwhile, prepare the filling.
- For the caramelised beetroot, cut the cook beetroot into thin wedges (about 6 per beetroot) and place on a baking tray.
- Mix the balsamic vinegar with the sugar and drizzle over the beetroot. Toss the beetroot in the balsamic mixture and bake at 180 C for around 30 minutes, tossing the beetroot around every 10 minutes. They will become sticky and delicious.
- Allow to cool until ready to use.
- In a bowl, beat the eggs and mix with the cream. To this mixture add the grated cheddar.
- Into the tart case, place the spinach (I break the spinach up into pieces first as this helps it to sit more evenly in the pastry.
- Break the blue cheese into small pieces and scatter it over the spinach.
- Pour the egg and cheese mixture carefully over the spinach, allowing it to fill in all the gaps. Do not let it overflow.
- Arrange the caramelised beetroot on top of the tart however you like, and bake for around 30 minutes until lightly golden and set.
- Allow to cool enough so you can remove the tart from the tin, and enjoy!
For a video on how to make this, head to my Instagram highlights @alice.fevronia and if you give it a go, tag me as I would love to see!
