We got our first CSA share last week. Adam and I have been really excited for the share to start, since we'll get a ton of good, fresh veggies out of it, and we'll get the opportunity to try new things that we might not otherwise.
The one thing I was wondering whether or not we'd get was beets. Beets, for me, are kind of the bastard stepchild of the veggie world (or is it a fruit? Those weird veggie/fruit things sometimes confuse me.). I'm not really sure what to do with them. I remember having them once years and years ago, but they weren't all that memorable. My most recent memory of them is my grandmother's potato salad, which was really store-bought potato salad with a can of diced cooked beets. To me, the taste of them is kind of nondescript. I don't crave beets and I'm really indifferent about them in general. So of course we got some, and to see them lying in the fridge kind of intimidated me.
But as they say, when in Rome, you make lemonade out of lemons, or something like that.
I began to hunt around for ideas. One friend told me to roast them, peel them, and eat them as is. I found a bunch of recipes that said to do the same thing. I liked the idea of the simplicity of it, but I really wanted to do something different. I found this recipe on epicurious (a site that I really should frequent more often) and thought I'd give it a whirl. I decided to use store bought pie crust though, since I just didn't have the energy to make a tart dough and besides, we didn't have any dried beans to weight it anyway. I also bought crumbled goat cheese instead of a log to make it easier to spread around. The recipe told me that when I was peeling and chopping the cooked beet to be careful, because beets stain EVERYTHING. It's true-and as I sliced my finger on the peeler it was hard to determine what was beet juice and what was blood (not to worry, nothing was tainted). But my hands were stained for at least a day.
Don't worry, I'm fine. Got a good nick with a vegetable peeler, but I used the closest thing I could find to cover it up.
The tart itself though? Not too bad. I'd definitely make it again (if someone decided to give me some beets) and although I've been eating it as my lunch the past few days I think this would really go well with some grilled chicken or something. I was pretty happy with the results. It was tart (ha! Pun intended!) and the crust was nice and flaky against the beet and onion filling (never you mind that it was store bought. It's a well known fact that I hate making my own dough). I could have probably cooked them for about ten minutes longer to take away a bit more of the bite, but I liked the twang I got from the beets and the goat cheese, and I really liked the texture of the chopped walnuts. I'm especially happy that I tried something I normally never would and I wasn't disappointed.
Next week in the CSA though? I'm hoping for tomatoes. :)
Fresh Goat Cheese, Roasted Beet, and Walnut Tart (recipe from epicurious.com)
2 to 3 small beets (I used 4 medium sized ones)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons dry white wine (I actually had none in the house-don't judge, it was a long week at work last week!-so I omitted this step)
1 recipe tart dough (found here) , shaped and blind-baked according to the directions (I took a shortcut and used store-bought pie crust, not blind-baked-use whatever your heart desires, but I quite enjoyed the pie crust!)
3 large eggs
3/4 c. heavy cream
4 oz. goat cheese (I used crumbled goat cheese, which worked really well)
1 c. chopped walnuts
1 Tbsp walnut oil (optional-I had none, so I left it out)
About 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley (I actually always forget about parsley and I think there's not much taste to it anyway, so I had none and left that out too)
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Rinse the beets well and dry them with a paper towel. Place the beets in a small pan (a square brownie tin worked well for me), and season with the olive oil and the salt and pepper. Cover the pan with aluminum foil. Bake about 1 hour, when you can easily pierce the beets with a knife.
Let the beets cool (quick cool tip? Put them in the fridge for about ten minutes). Peel the beets and chop roughly, into medium sized pieces. Watch out where you do this, as beets really do stain everything. I decided to dice them on a foil wrapped cutting board to make for easier clean up and less chance to dye my kitchen counter and my cutting boards. My hands, however, stayed a slight shade of pink for a day and a half.
Saute the onion in a pan with the melted butter until the onions are soft and cooked through-about 5-7 minutes. If they wind up slightly caramelized, not to worry! Add the white wine and cook out for another minute, deglazing the pan in the process. If you have no wine, you can either leave it be or add some chicken stock.
Mix the beets and onions together and put them into the pie shell.Whisk the eggs and cream together and season well with salt and pepper. Add the egg mixture to the beet and onion mixture in the pie shell, making sure to make things even in the pie plate. Sprinkle the crumbled goat cheese all over the top of the tart. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees, then remove and sprinkle the chopped walnuts on top of the tart and drizzle the walnut oil over it, if using. Return the tart to the oven and bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes or until it's just been set. If using parsley, sprinkle on top after removing from the oven and before serving, but really, it's not imperative that you use it. If you're eating as a main dish, it would be great with a nice simple salad, but as a side, it would be perfect with some chicken. Epicurious recommends using pork as well.
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