Beetroot and spinach are winter vegetables that we can use to make a delicious tart. This recipe uses two cheeses, cheddar and feta, spinach and the beetroot is roasted to bring out all its sweet flavour.

The vegetables and pastry can be prepared ahead to save time. This quick and easy tart is flavourful and the pastry strips that garnish the tart give it  a crisp.

Roasted Beetroot, Feta and Spinach Tart

Ingredients:

For the Pastry:

• 1 cup of Plain flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 45g butter
• 6 Tblsp chilled water

For the tart filling:

• 100g Greek Feta, crumbled
• 60g Cheddar chesse, grated
• 100ml cream
• 2 medium beetroots
• 1 large egg,
• a pinch ground nutmeg
• 2 bunches of English spinach
• 3-4 stems of parsley, washed, leaves removed and chopped, stalks discarded

Preparing the Beetroot:

• Pre heat the oven to 200ºC F
• Trim the tops of the beetroots leaving a couple of cm of stem and keeping the root end intact so that the beetroot will not bleed juice as it cooks
• Scrub the beetroots well
• Wrap each beetroot tightly in foil and set them onto a baking tray
• Bake for 1 hour
• remove the beetroots from the oven using kitchen gloves, and a sharp knife remove the skin from each beetroot
• Set aside to cool and store in the fridge until needed

Preparing the English Spinach:

• Remove the root end and stems of the English spinach
• Wash the leaves carefully in water, rinsing the leaves well of any soil
• Heat a saucepan of water until boiling, adding 1/2 a teaspoon of salt
• When the water boils place the spinach leaves into the water, pushing them under with a wooden spoon so that they are completely covered with water
• Lower the heat to simmer and cook for 4 minutes
• Remove the leaves to a colander to drain and allow to cool
• Gently press any remaining water from the cooked leaves and set aside until needed for the tart ( only about 3/4 of a cup of the cooked spinach will be needed for the tart and the rest will be used as an accompanying salad for the tart.)

Making the Pastry:

1. Using a food processor with the chopping blade inserted, process the flour and salt for 10 seconds
2. Add the chopped butter and process for 10 seconds till it resembles bread crumbs
3. Add the chilled water a couple of tablespoons at a time and process until the mixture forms a ball
4. Wrap the ball of pastry in cling film and refridgerate for 30 minutes

Assembling the tart:

1. Preheat oven to 200ºC F
2. Use a loose based flan tin
3. Slice the cold roasted beetroots into thin slices
4. Pinch a small ball the size of a golfball of pastry from the whole pastry and set aside for the pastry strip garnish
5. On a floured board, roll out the pastry into a circle large enough for the tart tin.
6. Press into the tin pushing gently into the edges to remove any air bubbles
7. Trim off the excess by rubbing off at the edge of the tin and add the small pieces to the ball of pastry for the garnish
8. Prick over the pastry with a fork, going over the whole tart making sure not to go the pierce the pastry the whole way through
9. Scatter the grated Cheddar chees over the base of the tart. This will protect the bottom of the tart from becoming soggy
10. Scatter some of the prepared spinach leaves over the cheese and season  with freshly grated black pepper.
11. Break the egg into a bowl and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper
12. Using a whisk, gently beat the egg
13. Add the cream and whisk through to incorporate it well
14. Add 80g of the crumbled fetta cheese and stir through
15. Spoon the egg, cream, feta mixture over the Cheddar and spinach, adding a little more cream if needed to cover the base well
16. Cover the tart with the slices of beetroot overlapping them to cover the base
17. Sprinkle over more of the spinach leaves and the chopped parsley
18. Crumble over the remaining 20g of feta cheese
19. Take the reserved pastry and roll into a long, thin rectangle of pastry
20. Using a fluted pastry cutter, cut out long strips of pastry 1 cm wide
21. Drape the strips across the tart and press the ends into the edges of the tart removing any excess
22. Place the tart on a baking tray and put it into the preheated oven
23. Bake at 200º C for 12 minutes
24. Then lower the temperature to 170ºC F and bake for a further 30 minutes. Check the tart after 20 minutes and cover loosely with a piece of foil if the pastry strips are browning too quickly. This will depend on your individual oven so keep an eye on how quickly they brown.
25. When cooked remove the tart pan from the oven and set aside for 5 minutes to cool a little before removing the tart from the pan
26. Then remove the tart from the tart pan and gently slide the tart off the removeable base to a serving plate by carefully using a lifter, making sure not to pierce the bottom of the tart

    

27. Cut the tart into serving pieces and serve warm or cold as desired

    

28. Place the remaining cooked spinach in a serving bowl and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
29. Dress with a tablespoon Extra Virgin olive oil and a good splash of white balsamic vinegar
30. Serve the spinach with the tart and add any extra slices of beetroot that may remain