I’m a beetroot lover, in any kind of shape or form: cooked, baked, as a soup (oh, deliciousness!), so when I came across the idea of making beetroot tart, I knew I have to try it. The only problem was the tart base, but I immediately realized that this recipe, will make a perfect no flour tart crust (I skipped coconut flour). Recently I’ve seen couple recipes with golden linseed meal and I’m very curious is there any difference in taste and consistency. I know that dough made with brown linseed doesn’t look as appetizing, but I’ve stocked myself with about 5kg of brown linseed, so it will take some time before I’ll try the golden linseed, to see if there’s any difference.

At the beginning I was going to add some tangy and salty cheese like feta, but as I didn’t have any in my fridge (and I try to avoid going to the store, I feel very uncomfortable being forced to wear a mask), so I decided to use camembert instead. Although I think this camembert I had, was a bit to gentle in taste and maybe something more intensive like blue Stilton for example would be much better. Anyway, eventually I finished with: beetroots (I’m lazy and bought already cooked ones), camembert, onion, walnuts, garlic and rocket, sprinkled with some natural rock salt.

But.

I wouldn’t be myself, if I wouldn’t forget about something. I thought that a great addition to this composition of flavours would be an apricot. And I’ve even left couple of them just for the purpose of this tart (usually apricots don’t last for too long in my kitchen because I eat them fast). I had a vision in my mind of nicely browned pieces of apricots laying on a bed of beets … and I forgot to add them.

So just imagine these amazingly browned juicy apricots in between the pieces of melted camembert. Oh well, maybe next time. If I won’t forget!

Eventually tart came out very nice. I’ve rolled the crust pretty thin – linseed is mostly fiber, so it’s very fulfilling, you don’t need a thick crust. Very gentle taste (maybe a bit too gentle, I would definitely add more tangy and intensive cheese next time). I’ve enjoyed it more when it was cold, but that’s just my personal preference – I like camembert cold rather than hot. My partner didn’t enjoy it as much as I did, though. He came back from work, grabbed quickly a piece of tart that was laying on the kitchen counter and started eating. You should have seen his face after first bite: “what the fuck is that?!” He doesn’t like beetroots, so all of it was mine 🙂

no flour/gluten free beetroot tart

INGREDIENTS for quite small tart (about 7-8 inches/15cm):

• about 1 cup ground linseed (flaxseed)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2-3 tbsp clarified butter (or coconut oil)
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp milk (I used almond milk)
• 1-2 cooked beetroots
• 1/2 small brown onion
• 1-2 garlic cloves
• piece of camembert (or blue Stilton, feta, goat cheese, something pretty intensive and tangy)
• couple of walnuts
• some rocket
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• pinch of natural rock salt (or sea salt flakes)

DIRECTIONS

I used freshly grounded linseed – it’s more healthy option (and cheaper), because grounded seeds oxidize quickly, loosing their nutritional properties. I use old coffee grinder, so it takes 3 minutes to make it. You can also use pestle and mortar, but it will take hell more time and energy. Third option is to buy ready grounded linseed.

In a bowl mix together grounded linseed, baking powder, butter, egg and milk, kenad the dough using your hand. You might need to adjust the amount of linseed meal depending of the size of your egg, if it’s a large egg you might need slightly more of the linseed meal. Form a ball and using a rolling pin and a pastry board (I have a silicon one – it doesn’t take almost any space, it’s easy to store and wash) roll out a round shape. Form the edge using your fingers.

Place thinly sliced beetroots, finely sliced onion and garlic cloves. Arrange couple pieces of cheese. Toss couple of walnuts, sprinkle with salt and drizzle with olive oil at the end.

Preheat the oven to 180°C (or 150° with the fan) and bake for about 20-25 minutes. Give it 3 minutes to rest when you take it out of the oven and then put some rocket leaves. Cut in pieces and enjoy hot or cold.

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