Roar Recipes

Delicious varieties of tarts and pies are all around us at the moment. Whether you’re veggie or a meat lover; we are all seriously spoilt for choice. However, while their deep-filled moreish centres are bursting with nutritious vegetables and a load of protein, more often than not they are accompanied with a thick pastry crust. Before you know it, your healthy balanced meal has turned into a calorific carb fest…

 

Having placed tarts into a food category of ‘treats for every now and again’, I recently discovered the wonders of the nut based curst! By eliminating the pastry crust you are not only adding another flavour dimension to the tart, but you can also begin to enjoy tarts on a more regular basis without feeling guilty!

 

I’m currently on a bit of a beetroot binge! As an incredibly nutrient rich root vegetable abundant with antioxidants, beetroots will do wonders for your health. Their deep red colour also makes the beetroot a great veg to cook with, dramatically changing the visual dimension of your dish.

 

Ingredients – Serves 4-5

 

For the Nutty Base

100g Walnuts

100g Ground Almonds

50g Pumpkin Seeds

50g Sunflower Seeds

1 tbsp Ghee

2 tbsp Olive Oil

1 dsp Italian Mixed Herbs

1 tsp Dried Sage

1 Clove of Garlic

Pinch of Salt

Black Pepper

1 tbsp Water (if your base feels a little dry and isn’t sticking together)

 

For the filling

2 Medium Carrots

2 Beetroots (Cooked & Peeled)

2 Cloves of Garlic

4 Shallots (or two small red onions)

3-4 Eggs

Milk (added to the eggs to make up 300ml)

1/3 tsp Caraway Seeds

80g Goats Cheese

Ghee for frying

 

Method

 

For the nutty base, begin by pre-heating the oven at 180c and chopping up the walnuts, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds in a food processor. Should you want a crunchy base, don’t over blend at this point and ensuring that the nuts are only coarsely chopped up. Following this add the remainder of the ingredients, except the water, to the food processor and pulse until everything is evenly combined and the mixture sticks together. If the mixture is a little dry at this point, add up to 1 tbsp of water.

 

Using the coarse grater or julienne blade of your food processor, firstly grate your carrots, then your beetroots.  Then either using a pestle and mortar, or a small bowl and the end of a rolling pin, grind up your caraway seeds. Finally chop up the shallots into quarters and set aside momentarily.

 

Grease or line a 20cm diameter tart tin, add the nutty base mixture spreading it evenly across the base and walls of the tin. Place in the oven and blind bake the base for 10 – 12 minutes until it appears crisp and golden.

 

While the base is crisping, fry the caraway seeds on a medium heat in a large frying pan, at this point don’t add any oil, but continually move the seeds in the pan. After a couple of minutes add a small dollop of ghee along with the garlic cloves (crushed), carrots and beetroot and fry for about 5 minutes.

 

In a separate small pan, fry the shallots (in oil or ghee) for about 5 minutes also. While these are frying, crack three eggs into a measuring jug and top up to 300ml with whole-milk then beat together and season generously with salt and black pepper.

 

Take the base out of the oven and start laying the fried carrots and beetroot evenly on top of it. Next pour over the egg and milk mixture, and scatter the fried shallots on top of that. Again transfer the tart back into the oven for 10 minutes.

 

While the tart is baking, slice up the goats cheese into around 12 pieces. Once the tart has baked for its 10 minutes, lay the goats cheese on top and pop it back into the over for a further 8-10 minutes.

 

After 8-10 minutes the tart should be looking pretty tasty with a golden and slightly crisp appearance. Set the tart on the side for 5 minutes to cool a little before serving.