For this creamy, quiche-like goat cheese, roasted beet, and walnut tart, smooth goat cheese, colorful roasted beets, and walnuts speckle the tart–all of which is nestled in a flaky buttery crust.
As the tart bakes, some of the beet juice will color the custard and the goat cheese, giving each slice a pretty, almost marbleized look. Since the flavors are a riff on the classic beet, walnut, and goat cheese salad, this tart pairs especially well with greens tossed with a bright vinaigrette. A small slice also makes a somewhat unusual but delicious side dish to grilled lamb chops or any full-flavored meat, as it won’t shy away from bold-tasting foods.–Gordon Hamersley
☞ Contents
Goat Cheese, Roasted Beet, and Walnut Tart
Ingredients
For the pastry
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into small cubes and well chilled
- 4 to 5 tablespoons ice water
For the filling
- 2 to 3 small beets
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 medium onion thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons dry white wine
- 3 large eggs
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 4 ounces fresh goat cheese
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 tablespoon walnut oil (optional)
- About 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
Directions
Make the pastry
- In a mixing bowl, combine the flour and the salt. Quickly cut the butter into the flour, using a pastry blender or your fingers, until the butter pieces are the size of large peas. (Alternatively, cut the butter into the flour by pulsing it 8 to 10 times in a food processor, being careful not to overheat and overmix the butter.)
- Dump the mixture out onto a clean surface and make a well in the center of the flour. Pour the ice water into the well. Using just your fingertips and working quickly, combine the flour mixture and the water. Work just until the water is absorbed. The dough will be ragged but should hold together when you squeeze it. If it seems dry, sprinkle on a few more drops of water. Form the dough into a log shape about 8 inches long and parallel to the edge of your work surface. With the heel of your hand, push down and away from you all along the line of dough. With a pastry scraper, gather up the dough, shape it back into a log, and repeat the smearing action. This technique, known as fraisage, will form sheets of butter in the dough, creating a light crust almost like puff pastry. With the pastry scraper, gather the dough up into a ball; it’s fine if the dough does not come together completely at this time.
- Wrap the dough well in plastic wrap, flatten it a bit, and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least a half hour before rolling. The dough will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. You can also freeze the dough, well wrapped; allow it to defrost for a day in the refrigerator before using it.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough so it is slightly larger around than the 10-inch tart mold and about 1/8 inch thick. If your rolling yielded something unlike a circle, use a knife to trim the raggedy edges, but keep the size of the circle larger than the tart pan. Carefully lift the dough over the tart pan and allow it to fall into the pan, centering it fairly well. Gently ease the dough into where the sides of the pan meet the bottom. If necessary, lift the dough that’s hanging over the edge and bring some of the excess down into the pan to ensure that the dough is following the pan’s contours. Once the dough covers the entire bottom of the pan, fold the excess dough over into the pan to make thicker walls. Press the dough into the edges of the pan and build up the wall of dough slightly so that it’s a bit higher than the edge of the pan. Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes before baking.
- To blind-bake the tart crust heat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line the mold with aluminum foil, and then fill the foil with baking weights, dried beans, or rice. Bake for 12 minutes. Remove the foil and beans and continue to bake until the crust is well browned. Remove from the oven and let the crust cool a bit before assembling your tart.
Make the filling
- Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Wash the beets and dry them with a paper towel. Place the beets in a small ovenproof pan, drizzle them with the olive oil, and season with a little salt and pepper. Cover the pan with aluminum foil. Bake until the beets are tender when pierced with a paring knife, about 1 hour. Allow the beets to cool. Peel the beets using a small knife and cut them into a medium dice. (Be careful, as beet juice can stain counters, towels, and even your hands; you may want to wear gloves for this step.)
- Heat the butter in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the onion, season with a little salt, and cook, stirring every few minutes, until the onion is just tender, about 7 minutes. Add the white wine and cook for another minute, scraping up any browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.
- Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Toss the beets and onion together and put them into the blind-baked tart shell. Whisk together the eggs and cream, season well with salt and pepper, and carefully pour over the beets and onion, letting the cream seep evenly into the beets. Dot the goat cheese all over the top of the tart. Put the tart on a baking sheet and bake it for 20 minutes. 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 until just set, an additional 15 to 20 minutes. Sprinkle the tart with the chopped parsley and let it rest for at least 5 minutes before serving.
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Recipe Testers’ Reviews
This tart makes a stellar presentation and delivers flavor as bold and brilliant as it looks. The vibrant sweetness of the beets and onions meld succulently with the tender custard, pungent goat cheese, and crunchy walnuts. Set this dish on the brunch, lunch, or dinner table and it will effortlessly garner raves from the first glance to the last bite.
The earthy flavor of the roasted beets combined with the goat cheese and walnuts gives this tart a unique taste. A wedge of this tart served with a green salad and a glass of white wine makes a perfect meal for lunch or dinner.
This was my daughter’s first taste of beets. Since my kids were already fans of quiche and goat cheese, I couldn’t have found a better way to introduce them to this great vegetable. I was not enamored of the tart’s appearance when I took it out of the oven to sprinkle on the nuts and drizzle the oil, though its looks improved a bit by the time it finished baking. Cutting into it, however, revealed a lovely mosaic of golden custard, bright beet, and creamy cheese. The flavors and textures were terrific together: tangy, savory, and creamy; firm and soft. The crust was perfect. The technique of fraisage, clearly and simply explained here, produced a light and buttery shell, just right for the flavorful filling. It won the kudos of everyone at the table, including one friend who is a professional chef. But it garnered even higher praise: my daughters finished every bite.
I will never look sideways at a beet again. Wow, this tart was something to write home about! If I had a restaurant, I would serve this; it was that good. The earthy flavor of the beets combined with the sweet, caramelized onions and the tart goat cheese was a brilliant concoction. This dish was also wonderfully rich with texture—the flaky crust, the crunchy walnuts, the creamy goat cheese, and the toothsome beets and caramelized onions. If that wasn’t enough, the appearance of this dish is riveting. It’s very festive looking, yet elegant at the same time. As a side note, I tried it cold and it was just as good. What more could I ask?
Originally published November 23, 2003
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If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We'd love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
The tart was a big hit at the potluck dinner I brought it to. It made a beautiful presentation, and it tasted wonderful. It’s definitely a recipe that’s meant to impress. It’s a little time-consuming (as is anything that involves making dough and roasting beets), so it won’t be something I’ll do often, but I’ll certainly use it for my next special occasion. The recipe taught me about fraisage, a technique that yields flaky pastry, and I really enjoyed that bit of education. In general, the recipe was very thorough and thoughtfully written. The authors anticipated a lot of the questions that might arise while rolling out the pastry dough. If the other recipes in Bistro Cooking at Home are equally good, I’d recommend this book to anyone.
Thanks Rebecca! We’re so glad that this turned out spectacularly for you, and that you took the time and effort to make it.
I’ve been on a frittata kick recently, and when I saw this recipe, I knew I’d be able to frittata-it with ease. I’m trying [TRYING] to omit refined flours and sugars, so I did away with the crust. I used 5 eggs instead of 3, but otherwise kept the recipe the same. Since I was using my trusty ovenproof ScanPan, I lowered the cooking times by 5 minutes/session. The resulting dish was gorgeous, delicious and super easy!!
Magnificent, Kristen! And I, too, find that most quiches and savory tarts can easily stand alone sans crust. Thanks!
I love roasted beets. Costco has organic beets in a box of three vacuum-sealed pouches that require no refrigeration so I thought I’d try them. I also had a big bag of walnuts (Costco also–wish they had smaller sizes of stuff) and so I needed to do something with the walnuts and the beets. This website never fails (shout out to David!), and this is the second time I have made this tart. It is delicious and addictive. I was somewhat put off by all the steps so I improvised. I used frozen puff pastry instead of making my own pie shell, used buttermilk instead of the heavy cream which gave it a nice tang, and I threw in some arugula with the onions just for some extra nutrition. Didn’t have white wine so I used dry sherry. Let me tell you, it looked funky coming out of the oven but it was so delicious. I love recipes that allow variations and still taste good, this one is definitely that kind. It was great warm and was still great the next day.
Marilyn, so happy you enjoyed the tart. Both times! And I love your improvisations; they sound great. Funky-looking or not, the dish is delicious, as you found out.
Just to interject, this is the way the recipe is written by Hamersley, but the cooking time may need to be adjusted depending on the baking implement used. For an earthenware pie pan, you will likely need more than 40 minutes of cook time. I learned this the hard way. Generally a dense quiche like this will take about an hour so I would consider your own past experience with your oven and cookware when establishing the final cooking time as 40 minutes is definitely on the low side for quiche cooking time.
Clara, many thanks for sharing your experience and your expertise. When we made this stunning tart in the 10-inch tart mold specified in the recipe, it baked in the allotted time, although it’s quite true that not everyone has that size pan, so we appreciate the reminder that subbing a smaller pie plate will result in a longer cooking time.