Finding Uses for Beets

As an adult, I have learned that I like beets quite a bit, but I’m never sure what to do with them beyond roasting & tossing with one dressing or another (honey/rosemary/cayenne, yogurt/ginger, goat cheese & dijon vinaigrette…). M. and I tried them raw, julienned with ricotta and a citrus dressing, and while I found it to be a beautiful dish, it was frankly too bland for me. So I was intrigued when I found Orangette’s recipe for Beet-Feta Tart. Not least because anything in a pie crust is automatically better than the same ingredients NOT in a pie crust.

So we start off with Martha Stewart’s pate brise, a savory version, and with a mix of all-purpose and whole wheat flours. Blind bake it. (I should really make something with these chickpeas eventually, instead of just using them as pie weights…)

Then while that’s in the oven, mix up a couple of eggs, 3/4 c. of milk, and a quarter pound of feta, crumbled.

Oh, I should probably put this as the first step, really–the beets need to be roasted and peeled, which will take close to an hour, but can be done a day or more in advance.

Once the crust is baked, slice the beets into 1/4″ thick slices and layer them in a single layer in the crust, to cover as much of it as possible.

Then pour in the egg/milk/cheese mixture.

And bake for 40 minutes at 350F.

The cool thing about this dish is that the color of the beets continues to filter through the eggy mixture. This is what it looks like straight out of the oven:

And then this is a few hours later:

It’s a pretty thin tart, but it’s pretty rich, with a wonderful salty-sweetness from the cheese and the beets.