These lovely little beetroot and Wensleydale tartlets are like a hug in a pastry casing. They do take about an hour to make, but if you put the beetroot on to roast as soon as you get home from work they’re really not too time consuming or labour intensive.
Although they sound cheesy, they contain plenty of fresh veg (onion, spinach, beetroot – and we had ours with a side salad) which I’m sure counterbalances the puff pastry…
The recipe below will make six tartlets, we had two each and we’ll have the left overs for lunch tomorrow. You could easily double or even triple the quantities if you wanted to make them for a dinner party.
Ingredients, Substitutions and Variations
- Olive oil – you can also use vegetable oil.
- Beetroot – use fresh beetroot for these beetroot tartlets – the flavour when you roast it is incredible.
- Onion – you can use white or brown onions.
- Spinach – use fresh spinach rather than frozen.
- Cranberries – the recipe calls for dried cranberries. You could use fresh, but dried bring a nice sweetness.
- Thyme – for that delicious fragrant flavour.
- Wensleydale – you can use any crumbly cheese – feta would also work very well.
- Puff pastry – use shop bought or you can make your own.
- Egg – for glazing.
Top Tips
- Get ahead These keep well in the fridge for a week, and in the freezer for up to three months.
- To serve These are delightful as part of a picnic or buffet, on their own for lunch, or with salads for dinner (a potato salad and a nice fresh Apple and Celery Slaw (No Mayo) go well with them).
- Prepping the pastry for the beetroot tartlets If you don’t use ready rolled pastry, simply roll your pastry into a long rectangle about 0.5cm thick. Then divide into the six squares.
Beetroot and Wensleydale Tartlets
Delicious little pastry tartlets, stuffed with beetroot, onion, spinach and cheese.
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Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 500 grams beetroot
- 1 large white onion
- 200 grams baby leaf spinach
- 75 grams dried cranberries
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 300 grams wensleydale cheese
- 320 grams readymade puff pastry
- 1 egg beaten
Instructions
- Chop the ends off the beetroot and cut each one into small cubes – about 1cm square. Put into a large ovenproof dish, drizzle with half of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Put in the oven at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes, until softened. Leave the oven on.
- Meanwhile, chop the onion and add to a frying pan with the remaining olive oil. Soften for a couple of minutes, then add the spinach bit by bit until wilted. Remove from the heat.
- In a large bowl, mix together the beetroot, spinach mix, cranberries, thyme and cubed wensleydale.
- Unroll the pastry and divide into six. Place a spoonful of the mix into the centre of each square of pastry. Pull up the corners around the filling, then pinch the edges shut.
- Brush each tartlet with beaten egg, then pop in the oven for about 15-20 minutes until puffed up and golden brown.
More beetroot recipes:
- Chilled Beetroot Soup
- Beetroot and Feta Pasta
- Salmon and Beetroot Flatbreads
- Beetroot and Goats Cheese Risotto
- Carrot, Watercress and Beetroot Salad
- Black Forest Fruits and Beetroot Smoothie
- Roasted Beetroot, Onion and Thyme Soup
