June 2004

Beetroot Tarte Tartin With Coriander Crème Fraiche.

This is a recipe that might seem familiar to some but made with apples and served as a dessert. Here we have given it a bit of a twist and are using it as a starter or a light lunch.

The tarte itself is made from three parts. The first of course is the beetroot. Many would find it more convenient to buy this ready cooked from the supermarket. We have used raw beetroot. We washed it, trimmed off any leaves and stalks. Then put in onto a large sheet of tin foil with some salt and pepper and a good slosh of white wine. The foil was then scrunched up to wrap and enclose the beetroot then the whole package put into a medium hot oven and left for about 45 mins. The package was removed and left to one side, unwrapped to allow to cool. When cool the beetroot is then easy to peel. I would at this stage strongly recommend that you wear some plastic gloves as you will suffer from very bright pink fingers if you don't . Not pretty.

The second part of the dish is onion. We have finely sliced some red onion and gently cooked this in a little butter in a pan. When the onion was nearly cooked we added some zest of orange and a little orange juice, salt and pepper. Again, this mix was left to one side to cool.

The third part is the pastry. We have used puff pastry. I am a big fan of ready made frozen puff pastry. It is a great product and such a time saver. We rolled the pastry out to a couple of mm thick. This was then quite closely pricked with a fork. This prevents the pastry from rising too much but still allows it to crisp up during cooking.

To make the tartes we took a baking sheet and covered it with either grease proof or silicon paper. We then took one of the beetroot and cut it into eight equal size wedges. These were arranged slightly over lapping into a circle. In the centre of the circle we put a small blob of butter. On top of the butter we put a spoon full of the onion and orange mix. This is then topped with the pastry. This needs to be cut into a big enough circle to completely cover the beetroot and reach the greaseproof paper all the way round. It is usually a good idea at this point to allow everything a few minutes to relax before cooking. The tartes were cooked for about 20 mins in a moderately hot oven until the pastry had turned a golden colour and become crisp. The tartes were removed from the oven and left for a couple of minutes.

While the tartes were resting we made the dressing. This is very simple. We mixed some crème fraiche with a little salt and pepper, a little orange juice and some finely chopped fresh coriander. Some people like to add a little garlic into the dressing for a little extra something.

Now we are ready to serve. On a plate we put a little salad of mixed leaves. Around this we spooned a little of the crème fraiche . Then very carefully we lifted the tarte and turned it over. Now the beetroot is at the top. We put this on top of the salad and then sprinkled a little coriander around it. That is it. This can be served cold or hot. I prefer it just warm. It would make a good summer lunch with salad and it is a great vegetarian dish.

I hope you enjoy it.

Paul Vincent, Head Chef.