Perfect portion: chioggia beet and goat cheese tartlets

I had the nightmare experience of trying to turn my computer on yesterday only to find that no matter what I did, the screen remained black. Two computer repair places and several hours later, I accepted the fact that it needed to be sent out for repair, and that I would be without my lifeline for four days. Luckily I have a backup system that would make Bill Gates proud, and am not worried about my files. That said, it has taken a while for me to get set up so that I can access my critical files from a borrowed computer and be able to write this week’s post. I’ll save what I was going to share from Maine for next week when I have my own computer back, and in the meantime have a bright lunch idea for this rainy weather.

I love anything cooked in individual portions. Somehow, everything looks and tastes better served that way. Tartlets are no exception – they are even easier to make than full-sized tarts since forming the dough size is simpler. Inspired by the beautiful Chioggia beets in the farmer’s market, I set off to make beet and goat cheese tartlets for lunch and served them with wonderful farmer’s market greens. I love Chioggia beets – they are even more exotic-looking raw and can be eaten that way. I like thinly slicing them in salad: they are a beautiful contrast to greens. Cooked, their concentric rings lose some of their punch but they become beautifully mottled with pink, white and orange colors.

These tartlets (with a great green side salad) are the perfect light, highly civilized lunch.

Beet and goat cheese tartlets

For the dough, use any basic pâte brisée such as this one (dough for one 9 inch pie will make 4-5 tartlets)

For the filling

4-5 beets (Chioggia are beautiful but standard beets would be nice too), drizzled with olive oil, wrapped in foil and roasted in the oven at 350˚ for ~45 minutes or until a knife easily passes through them)
5 oz goat cheese
2 leeks, white and light green parts only, well washed
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme plus one spring thyme to garnish each tart
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Press dough inside fluted mini tart pans (~4.5 inch diameter) with removable bottoms. Roll rolling pin over tops of tarts to cut off any dough above the edges. Prick dough with a fork in several places. Allow to rest in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes. Place parchment paper inside tart pans, covering sides and fill with pie weights. Blind bake for 25 minutes until dough is a golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside.

While tart shells are blind baking, slice leeks into thin rounds and sauté over medium/medium low heat with a splash of olive oil, small pat of butter and sprinkle of salt and pepper until they are soft and translucent. Mix ~1 tablespoon chopped thyme leaves, and a sprinkle of pepper into goat cheese. Stir to soften the cheese.

When beets are cool enough to handle, remove skins and slice very thinly and evenly, ideally using a mandolin.

When tart shells come out of oven, fill bottoms with sautéed leeks and then dot goat cheese evenly on top, using your finger or a fork to gently distribute the cheese.

Bake tarts for ~10 minutes until cheese has softened. Remove from oven and neatly place beet slices on the top, drizzle with a little olive oil, sprinkle with remaining teaspoon chopped thyme leaves and heat in oven until warm, ~5-7 minutes, taking care to ensure beets do not dry out.

Remove from pie pans, garnish with a spring of thyme and serve with a green salad.

p.s. I'm entering the top-down image in this month's "click" event