Beetroot, goats cheese and pine nut tart

Over the past few weeks I have appeared to have accumulated an abundance of beetroot, either from local farmers markets, food festivals or my weekly veg delivery from Windmill Organics . As a child all I knew of beetroot was the pickled kind that made your cheese butties go purple but I have since discovered the delights of fresh beetroot in the like of soups, cakes or, at it's best, simply roasted.  Beetroot is great source of iron and vitamins and is a tasty way of adding to your five a day. I am planning on trying some beetroot bread soon but have been keeping things simple so far, with this Beetroot and Goats Cheese Tart with Pine Nuts being a recent favourite. I picked up some lovely goats cheese from the brilliant Liverpool Cheese Company, that added a great depth of flavour to the tart without overpowering the beetroot. For more beetroot recipes check out Love Beetroot for a little inspiration. such as the intriguing sound of Lamb and Sweetfire beetroot burgers with feta.

Ingredients

Rough puff pastry made using Dan Lepard's  recipe from the brilliant ' Short and Sweet '

400g beetroot ( peeled and roasted)

2 onions

1 clove garlic

25ml balsamic vinegar

125 ml red wine

small amount of fresh thyme

1 tbps maple syrup ( can use honey but I hate the stuff)

200g soft goats cheese

Salt and pepper

50g pine nuts

olive oil for roasting and frying

Method

1.Prepare the pastry as per ' short and sweet' light rough puff recipe. The pastry can be rolled out roughly into any shape you like but I used a large quiche tin for mine, in order to give it a little bit of structure.

2. Roughly chop the beetroot into small wedges, drizzle with oil and bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until softened.

3. Heat some oil in a deep frying pan and add in the chopped onions. Cook the onions until they are soft and add in the chopped garlic, thyme then after a couple of minutes add in the wine, vinegar and syrup then season. Stir in the beetroot, half the pine nuts and half the cheese until loosely combined.

4. Poor the beetroot mixture over the centre of the pastry, leaving the edges uncovered. Cut the rest of the cheese into tick slices and place on top of the mixture along with the rest of the pine nuts then cook for 20-25 minutes until pastry is golden and cheese is melted.