Want another vegetarian main course showstopper for your next dinner party? Then make this jewelled-toned beetroot and goats' cheese tart with its deep red and warm golden beetroot filling that looks like a beautiful sunset. The beetroot sits atop a smooth and silky blended whipped goats' cheese flavoured with garlic and chives.
With every mouthful you get the earthy, sweet beetroot flavour with the garlicky sharp tang of the whipped goats' cheese.
A tart from scratch may seem daunting at first; however, it all comes down to a little planning, and I give you the shortcrust pastry technique in the recipe card. Of course though, you can always buy the tart shell pre-made or buy shortcrust pastry dough and start from there to save time. Don't let the beetroot layering intimidate you either - it's simpler than it looks, and I'll show you how, step-by-step.
Why You'll Love this Beetroot and Goats' Cheese Tart
- A showstopping vegetarian centrepiece that is actually simple to plan for. It looks complicated but does not require advanced cooking skills.
- Beautiful two-toned, vivid colours from the beetroot, giving a sunset-like gradient across the tart.
- The goats' cheese is not just crumbled on top, it's whipped into a smooth silky filling with garlic and chives. Every bite gets the same hit of flavour, instead of the odd bit of cheese crumble.
- Can be prepared ahead - the pastry case, whipped goats' cheese and roast beetroot, leaving assembly and a short bake when guests arrive.
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Key Ingredients & NOTES
- Plain flour and unsalted block butter - for shortcrust pastry.
- Homemade shortcrust pastry - Easy to make, requiring just plain flour, butter, salt and water.
- Red & Golden Beetroot - Red beets are deep red with a bold, earthy taste. Golden beets are milder with a bright yellow colour.
- Goats' cheese - Bold, salty flavour that matches well with the beetroot.
- Cream cheese - helps create a smooth whipped goats' cheese.
- Garlic & Chives - Add to the goats' cheese and cream cheese for balanced flavour.
See the recipe card for quantities.
How to Make Red and Golden Beetroot and Goats' Cheese Tart
- Cut the butter into cubes.
- In a bowl, add the plain flour, salt and cubed butter. Rub together until it resembles breadcrumbs.
- Add water a tablespoon at a time and bring the dough together.
- Turn out the dough onto a worktop lightly sprinkled with flour to prevent sticking.
- Lightly knead the dough to bring it together.
- Wrap the dough in cling film or parchment paper and chill for 30 minutes.
- See the recipe tips for key considerations when making the dough.
- Preheat the oven to 160ºC.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and place onto a worktop surface sprinkled with flour to prevent sticking. Or roll between two parchment paper pieces to prevent sticking as ease in removing it.
- Roll out the dough to a thickness of 3mm.
- Line the tart tin with the dough, pressing into the bottom and sides. Trim off excess dough.
- Line the dough with parchment paper and place ceramic baking beads. You can also use uncooked rice or dry beans.
- Blind bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove the balls and the parchment paper and return to the oven and bake for a further 5 - 8 minutes until it looks dry and faintly coloured.
- Preheat the oven to 200.
- Place the whole beetroot on the baking tray and sprinkle with salt. Cover with tin foil.
- Roast for 1 hour.
- Remove from the oven and let the beetroot cool for 5 minutes.
- Rub the beetroot to remove the skin.
- Top and tail each beetroot, cut in half and then thinly slice in half-moon shape, about 1- 2 mm thick.
- To make the whipped goats' cheese, place the goats' cheese in a bowl along with the cream cheese.
- Add the peeled garlic, salt, and chives, then blend with a stick blender. Alternatively, use a jug blender.
- Spread the whipped goats' cheese into the base of the tart.
- Starting at the edge of the tart, place the red beetroot slices on their flat edge, overlapping, as shown in the photograph.
- Work your way to the centre of the tart in ever-decreasing circles. Halfway in, change to the golden beetroot.
- Brush the top of the beetroot slices with a little olive oil, return to the oven, and bake for about 20-25 minutes, until the beetroot has darkened in colour and the pastry is golden.
Substitutions & Variations
You can replace the goats cheese with either feta or any cream cheese. Check the seasoning and adjust as needed. Whip together in a blender, as with the goats cheese.
If you don't have access to golden beetroot, you can use red beetroot on its own. You can also replace the golden beetroot with carrots. I would cut them into half moons and blanch them in salted water till tender.
If you're short on time and don't want to make the tart from scratch, you can use a pre-made one or buy ready-rolled shortcrust pastry and cut it to your tart tin size.
You can substitute the shortcrust pastry for puff pastry, but that will change the baking time. I have not made this with puff pastry, so you will need to experiment.
An optional garnish idea is to sprinkle chopped walnuts or hazelnuts over the tart just before serving.
Equipment
Equipment you will need for this tart:
- Loose bottom tart tin, 9 inches in size, preferably with fluted edges.
- Rolling pin to make the shortcrust pastry.
- Stick blender or jug blender to make the whipped goats' cheese.
- Baking tray to roast the beetroot and tin foil to cover it.
Storage
You can keep the tart in the fridge for up to three days in an airtight container. The best way to reheat it is in the oven at 180ºC for about 10 minutes. Microwaving makes the tart bottom a bit soft.
This tart doesn't freeze well once it's fully made.
Recipe tips
Recipe workflow
This is one of those recipes where life is much easier if you follow a specific workflow to save time and effort. Work in this order:
- Roast the beetroot in the oven.
- Then make your pastry and refrigerate (while beetroot is roasting).
- Make the whipped goat cheese.
- Roll out the pastry, press it into a tart tin, and refrigerate before baking.
- Once the beetroot is cooked, peel once cool enough to handle.
- Add the beans and blind-bake the tart.
- While the tart is baking, slice the beetroot and set aside.
- Remove the tart from the oven, remove the beans and bake again
- Assemble the goat cheese and beetroot and bake again.
. In this way, you will make the tart in about 2 hours.
Pastry Making
- Use unsalted block butter, and make sure its chilled before rubbing into the flour.
- Don't over knead the dough, You don't want to overwork it, otherwise it will become tougher and will shrink in the tin when you bake it.
- Keeping it in the fridge is not just to cool the dough, its for the flour to hydrate so that its workable and won't crack when rolling it out.
FAQ
This is the process of baking a pie crust without any filling. It is done for a variety of reasons:
- If the filling remains unbaked.
- If the cook time of the filling is shorter than the pie crust cook time, as in this recipe.
- To prevent the pie crust from becoming soggy due to a wet filling.
You can make the pastry and do the blind baking, the whipped goats' cheese and the roasted beetroot a day or two in advance. The tart can be stored in an airtight container and stored on the counter top, the rest can be stored in the fridge. On the day the tart is to be served, all you need to do is to spread the goats cheese on the base of the tart, arrange the beetroot and bake.
📖 Recipe
Red and Golden Beetroot and Goat Cheese Tart
Ingredients
Pastry
- 250 g Plain flour
- 120 g Unsalted block butter
- A pinch of salt
- 3-4 tablespoon Cold water
Beetroot
- 525 g Red Beetroot
- 450 g Golden Beetroot
- 1 teaspoon Sea salt
Whipped goat cheese
- 100 gms Goats cheese
- 50 gms Cream cheese
- 20 gms Garlic
- 10 gms Chives
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
Pastry
- Cut Butter into cubes.
- In a bowl measure the flour, a pinch of salt and add the cubed cold butter, then using your fingers, rub flour and butter together until they are well blended and resemble breadcrumbs. Add cold water a table spoon at a time, to bring the dough together. You may need less water or a touch more.
- Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured counter top and knead briefly until smooth. The goal here is to bring the dough together, not knead it as you would knead bread. Wrap in parchment paper or film and leave in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 160ºC ( fan assisted )
- Remove dough from fridge, allow it to rest for five minutes. Then on a floured surface, roll out the dough to a 3mm thickness and use it to line the tart tin. Press into the bottom and sides. Trim the excess off. Keep a little uncooked pastry back, just in case you need to patch any cracks later.
- Line the pastry with parchment paper and then fill with baking balls, beans or uncooked rice. Insure the base is evenly covered.
- Blind bake the tart for 15 minutes, then remove the parchment and baking balls, return to the oven for about 5-8 minutes or until it looks dry and faintly coloured.
- If you need to repair any cracks or holes, use the reserved pastry to do so and set aside.
Beetroot
- Pre heat oven to 200ºC ( fan assisted )
- Throughly wash the beetroot and pat dry.
- Place on a baking tray, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of salt, cover with foil and roast for one hour.
- Once the beetroot is roasted, remove foil and allow it to cool for five minutes, then remove the skin, by rubbing the beetroot. If it's too hot to handle, you can do this under running water.
- Top and tail the beetroot, then using a sharp knife cut beetroot in half ( from top to bottom ) and slice into even half moons about 1-2 mm thickness. Set aside.
Whipped Goat cheese
- Wash chives, pat dry and chop finely.
- Transfer goat cheese into food processor or blender.
- Add cream cheese, peeled garlic cloves, salt and pepper to taste and blend into a smooth puree.
- Transfer into a bowl, check seasoning and add chopped chives ( save some for garnish ) and mix to combine.
Assembly
- Pre heat oven to 160ºC.
- Spread the whipped goat cheese to the base of the tart.
- Start with the outer edge of the tart, with the red beetroot and place each slice overlapping the other. The round edge should be facing upwards. Halfway through the tart use the golden beetroot in the same way, till you reach the centre. See photo.
- Brush the tart with a little bit of olive oil and bake the tart in the oven for 20-25 minutes, till the pastry is golden and beetroots are a deeper colour.
- Once tart is ready, rest for 10 minutes, then gently remove from tart case and serve garnished with chopped chives.
More Main Course Showstoppers
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Food Safety
- Wash your hands regularly while preparing, handling and cooking food.
- Wipe down countertops and high-contact points regularly.
- If you cook meat and fish, do not use the same utensils on cooked food that previously touched raw meat. Use separate chopping boards for meat and fish. Wash your chopping boards immediately after use.
- Thoroughly cook food to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C).
- Don't leave food at room temperature for extended periods (more than 2 hours).
- Store food correctly.
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