Leading up to Christmas last year I went to a pot luck at some friends’ house and was served something similar to this beetroot tarte tatin. First of all I really enjoyed the effort that was put into making something both vegan and gluten free for me to have but I also very much appreciated the combination of the flaky pastry, the earthy beetroot and the jammy red onion. So I thought I must try to recreate this tarte and put my spin on it.

Here it is now with a little addition of fresh thyme for a pop of green and some fermented cashew cheese for creamy goodness. Serve it at a dinner party as a starter or cut it into smaller wedges and enjoy as nibbles at mocktail hour!

This recipe is part of my valentine’s three course menu, which I shared on YouTube, alongside this green oven-baked risotto for the main course and these fudgie brownies for dessert.

Malin x

Beetroot Tarte Tatin

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

250 g vegan puff pastry sheet, gluten free if required

2 tbsp vegan butter

2 small/medium red onions

2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves, divided

1 tbsp light muscovado sugar

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

350 g cooked and peeled beetroot

75 g vegan fermented cashew cheese or similar, divided

Salt and black pepper, to taste

A handful of toasted walnut pieces

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.

Roll out the sheet of puff pastry and cut it to fit the outer edge of a 23 cm wide skillet. You’ll want to cut it on the larger side rather than the smaller. Then roll it back up and leave to rest in the fridge while you prep the filling.

Peel and slice the onions into halfmoon slices. Melt the vegan butter in the skillet you used to measure out the puff pastry over medium low heat. Once melted and pan is warm sauté the onions for 4-5 minutes or until softened and a little golden around the edges.

In the meantime cut the beetroot into wedges. For smaller to medium sized beetroot make 8 wedges and if using larger beetroot cut the initial 8 wedges in half.

Once the onion is looking good add 1 tbsp of thyme leaves and stir them through.

Lower the heat to low and sprinkle the sugar over the onion and pour the balsamic vinegar into the skillet. Stir using a wooden spoon to dissolve the sugar into the vinegar to create a glaze like sauce.

Add the beetroot to the pan, season with salt and pepper. Then stir them through the onion and the sauce until they appear glossy. Take the pan off the heat and arrange the beetroot in a single layer at the bottom of the pan. Allow to cool for roughly 10 minutes.

Depending on the package instructions of your puff pastry you might want to take it out of the oven and allow it to warm up a little while the filling cools as well. Otherwise leave it in the oven until last minute.

Once the filling has cooled off a little crumble half of the cashew cheese over the top of it. Then roll out the pastry on top of the filling and tuck in the sides top envelop the filling.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden and very puffy on top.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the skillet for 10 minutes. Then place a plate or board on top of the skillet and flip it over. Lift up the skillet and hopefully there is no beetroot stuck to the skillet. If there is simply remove it and add it back onto the pastry where you see some missing.

Finally crumble the remaining cheese over the top of the tarte and sprinkle over the walnuts pieces and remaining fresh thyme. Cut into wedges and serve immediately.

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