I’ve been wanting to make something simple and seasonal, and this recipe fits the bill. There’s no real Wow! factor, but it was just very simply delicious.
I used my quiche dough and made it two days a head of time, so that when I went to roll out the dough it was very chilled, and it worked a lot better this time! As a result, I think the crust was super flaky and extra tasty. I rolled out the dough, prebaked it at 375 with a weight for 20 minutes, removed the weight and baked another 15 minutes. While the crust was prebaking, I got started on prepping my root veggies.
After collecting a variety of root vegetables at the farmer’s market and the grocery store, I got out my new favorite kitchen toy: the mandolin, and sliced them up thinly, about 2mm thickness. You could do it by hand as well, but my slices are never than thin, or that even, and I wanted the veggies to cook evenly.
I used a russet potato, a large parsnip, a rutabaga, a sweet potato, and 2 golden beets. I ended up using 3/4 of the veggies I cut, but if you make this, I would pile the veggies higher and use all of them, because Brent really wishes the veggie layer was thicker. After slicing all the veg, I arranged them in layers in the crust. You could do 1 layer for each veg, or do like I did and alternate the veggies, so each layers gets all the vegetables. After each thin layer, I drizzled it with a thin layer of olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper. I should include more prep photos, but I always forget! I think I had 5 or 6 thin layers total. After the last layer, I again drizzled with olive oil, salt, pepper, and then added a bit of rosemary.
The tart went back into the oven for 35 minutes at 375. After 35 minutes, I opened the oven door and sprinkled some crumbled goat cheese over the tart and baked for an additional 10 minutes. The goat cheese isn’t necessary, but I decided to add it at the last minute because I thought it would go with the beets and other veggies. Goat cheese is always delicious. 🙂
Don’t worry about brown edges. The top layer wrinkled up and browned a bit, making it even more delicious! This was flaky and comforting and totally tasty. I would definitely make it again! I think using all different varieties of beets and adding more goat cheese would be pretty stellar as well.
This makes great leftovers too! I reheat it in the oven at 325 for 10 minutes and it comes out tasting exactly like it did the first time.
Winter Root Vegetable Tart
- One recipe pastry dough for an 11″ tart
- 1 Russet potato
- 1 Sweet Potato
- 1 Rutabaga
- 1 (big) Parsnip
- 2 (medium) Golden Beets
- Extra-virgin Olive Oil
- Salt & Pepper
- Rosemary (I used dried, but fresh would be good)
- 2oz Goat Cheese (optional)
- After chilling dough for at least one hour, roll out into a 13 inch circle.
- Carefully place dough into a tart pan and press gently into shape.
- Jab the dough with a fork a few times.
- Place pie weights, dried beans or another weight mechanism onto the dough and bake at 375 for 20 minutes.
- Remove weight and bake for an additional 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile…
- Set a mandolin slicer to 2mm and slice all of the vegetables.
- When the pastry has prebaked, begin arranging the vegetable slices in slightly overlapping layers in the crust.
- After each layer, drizzle with approximately 1t. olive oil and sprinkle with a dash each of salt and pepper.
- Repeat layering process until the tart is all full – these vegetables will cook down a little bit, so you can go over a bit if you want.
- Drizzle with 1t. olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and rosemary.
- Bake tart for 35 minutes at 375.
- After 35 minutes, sprinkle with goat cheese and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
- Slice and enjoy!
This was a fun way to incorporate a ton of winter vegetables without simply roasting them. Roasted root vegetables are delicious, but it’s nice to have them prepared in another way! 🙂