These beetroot, onion and goats cheese tarts are another of the bakes from my Great Bloggers Bake Off final spread. The vibrant colour of the beetroot really cheers me up on a cold day like today. The tarts are perfect as part or a party spread, a dinner party starter, in a lunch box, or as a light meal. Delicious served both warm or cold, you can serve them with new potatoes and a salad or green vegetables for a light meal. When serving them as a starter, I garnish with a handful of rocket - sometimes piled on top chef style - and a drizzle of good balsamic vinegar.
Baking the beetroot, onion and goats cheese tart cases blind
Jump to RecipeBaking blind is the process of baking a pastry case without the filling. The tins are lined with pastry and then pricked with a fork. Each pastry case is then lined with baking parchment and filled with some baking beans to stop air pockets under the pastry the pastry from bulging up while it is cooked. The pastry is then part baked with the beans in place. After that the beans and paper lining are removed and the pastry is returned to the oven and baked until golden.
Sometimes the pastry may crack a little. Brushing the pastry with a little beaten egg immediately after removing it from the oven will seal it and will later on stop any liquid filling from leaking out. The hot pastry should set the egg layer but, if it has cooled too much and the egg remains wet, simply pop them back into the oven for a minute.
If you have not baked blind before, here is a really helpful video on how to bake blind from the BBC Good Food. You might notice that unlike in the video, I don't leave my pastry over hanging while the case bakes. In my experience pastry cases are a little prone to breaking when you trim it after baking. As long as you don't over handle the pastry while rolling out and lining the case(s) the pastry should not shrink. However, if you find your pastry does tend to shrink then you may want to give over hanging the pastry a try. It might just solve your problem.
The tips about scrunching up the parchment and using a small ball of pastry are good ones though.
For little pastry cases you I use plain muffin cupcake cases instead of greaseproof paper or parchment to line the pastry case. They are just the right size. I keep them in the tin I store the baking beans and use them again and again.
Ceramic baking beans heat up in the oven and help to cook the pastry. If you don't have them, you can use dried beans and pulses or rice. No need to throw them after use, they can be used over and over again.
Step by step Beetroot, Onion and Goats Cheese Tarts
Beetroot, onion and goats cheese tarts
Equipment
- 8 10cm (4in) fluted tart cases
Ingredients
pastry
- 250 g plain flour (9oz/2 cups)
- 125 g butter cut into dice (4oz)
- about 2 tablespoon cold water
- a little beaten egg
filling
- 1 onion thinly sliced
- 1 medium beetroot peeled and grated
- 2 tablespoon rapeseed or olive oil
- 2 eggs
- 150ml milk (¼ pint /⅔ cup)
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- 120 g soft goats cheese cut into 8 slices
Instructions
To make the pastry cases
- To make the pastry cases, Place the flour in a mixing bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add enough cold water to mix to a dough.
- Wrap and allow the dough to relax in a cool place or the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. Roll out the pastry and use to line the pastry cases. To avoid over rolling I tend to divide the pastry up into smaller pieces so I don't have to keep re-rolling.
- Prick the base of the tarts with a fork. Line each case with a piece of parchment and fill with baking beans. Chill for at least 30 minutes or pop into the freezer for 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 200℃ /180℃ fan/gas mark 6. Place the pastry cases on a baking tray and bake blind for 10 minutes. Remove the baking beans and parchment and return to the oven for another 10 minutes or until pale golden.
To complete
- Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan and sauté the onion for 1-2 minutes. Then add the beetroot and cook until soft, stirring frequently – about 10 minutes.
- Once the pastry cases are baked, reduce the oven temperature to 180℃ /160℃ fan/gas mark 4. Divide the beetroot mixture equally among the pastry cases.
- Beat the eggs and milk together with a fork and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Pour into the pastry cases. Top with a slice of goats cheese. Return to the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the filling is just set.
Notes
Nutrition
Shaheen says
This is one of my husbands fave combo's - he will eat beetroot and goats cheese it in a risotto, salad or tart. Lovely. Thanks for sharing and reminding me, now I feel guilty - like I should make hims some 🙂
Jacqueline Bellefonatine says
You husband has good taste it's a great combination.
Monika Dabrowski says
Love this recipe! I'll take beetroot any day and this recipe is just fabulous, so simple as well, not too many ingredients , beetroot and goats cheese are always so good together and these tarts would make a great party food idea! Pinning it now:)
Jacqueline Bellefonatine says
Thank you Monika I have a bit of thing for beetroot at the moment so im sure to be posting more beetroot recipes soon.
Pauline says
Great, very tasty recipe, thank you.
Jacqueline Bellefontaine says
Glad you like them. Thank you for taking the time to comment and rate the recipe is much appreciated.
Eb Gargano / easypeasyfoodie.com says
Oooh yes please! These look absolutely gorgeous - I love the idea of piling them high with rocket and drizzling with balsamic vinegar. Yum, yum, yum!! An great tip about the cupcake cases - perfect! Eb x
Jacqueline Bellefonatine says
Love to pass on tops when I have them Thats the great thing about writing my blog I have the freedom to write what I Please:)
Kirsty Hijacked By Twins says
You have combined some of my favourite flavours in these tarts. I adore goats cheese and beetroot. These are going on my Christmas bake list! Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
Jacqueline Bellefonatine says
I hope you like them. Let me know what you think. I would love to know.
Angela / Only Crumbs Remain says
These sound so yummy Jacqueline, I love beetroot and goat's cheese! I have to say I'm definitely going to give your tip of using cuocake cases a try to line my small pastry cases in the future - using greaseproof can be soooo fiddley when they're dinky tarts. I know what you mean about the pastry cracking when you come to trim pastry that's blind baked. I've started to trim it part way through the blind bake (usually a couple of minutes before taking out the beans and greaseproof (or now cupcake papers 🙂 ) and have found that usually (though not all of the time) the pastry doesn't crack.
Angela x
Jacqueline Bellefonatine says
I've tried trimming half way through the cooking too, mostly successfully but I guess I like to stick with the ay I was taught:) I also have some large parchment cake cases which I use when baking larger cases blind too. It saves cutting a sheet of parchment and as i keep them with the baking beans it less wasteful.
Sarah James @ Tales From The Kitchen Shed says
I love beetroot & goats cheese, a perfect pairing. Your tarts look delicious Jacqui, great for party food.
Jacqueline Bellefonatine says
Thank you Sarah
Mandy says
Love these. Beetroot and goats cheese is one of the best flavour combos there is!
Jacqueline Bellefonatine says
Thanks Mand, It is certainly a very good one 😉