Anyone who read last Friday’s post will remember that I was in a grumpy, sorry-for-myself pizza-eating mood. It was therefore pizza that sprang to mind when I received some stunning yellow beetroot in my weekly veg box. Not only is it as pretty as sunshine it also has the advantage of not turning you into Lady Macbeth when you try and peel it or of causing alarm when you go to the toilet the next day (ah, come on, we’ve all done it). This photo doesn’t do it justice but here it is anyway with its traditional cousin.
I’d been ruminating on what to make with my next batch of home-made cheese and so beetroot and ricotta pizza seemed like a great idea. But then I thought: ‘Oh heck, those other food bloggers will expect me to be all fancy-dan and make the pizza base and I just don’t have the energy.’ So I cheated and used ready-made puff pastry. Hence why it turned into a tart rather than a pizza. But it tasted nice anyway.
Ingredients
1 litre full-fat milk
1 lemon (with another on standby)
500g ready-made puff pastry
2 medium red onions, sliced and fried until nice and jammy
A handful of pine nuts, toasted
2 large beetroots, boiled and then peeled and sliced
1 sprig of rosemary, finely chopped
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
One big dollop of rocket
First of all, it was time to make the ricotta (cheese-pedants will note that this isn’t proper ricotta which is actually made from the leftover whey but it’s kind of similar). One litre of milk went into a saucepan and I gently heated it until it started to boil (careful it doesn’t burn on the bottom of the pan). Add the juice of one lemon, remove the pan from the heat, give it a good stir and the curds should separate from the whey. If it doesn’t happen, whack in some more lemon juice.
Spoon the curds into a sieve lined with a muslin or teatowel and leave to drain until you have the consistency of curds you want. Lovely cheese here:
Preheat the oven to 220˚C / 200˚C fan-assisted / Gas Mark 7.
Remove the pastry from the packet and unroll it onto a baking tray. Score a line about 2cm from the edges, all around the pastry. This will make the edges puff up nicely.
Spread the onions over the base, arrange the beetroot slices over the top and sprinkle with the ricotta, pine nuts and rosemary. Season with salt and pepper.
Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes or until the pastry is risen and crispy. Strew rocket over the top and serve with a dressed green salad.
Because this recipe uses home-made fresh cheese, I am sharing it with this month’s Cheese, Please! Challenge.
And because I’ve used rosemary, I am also adding it to this month’s Cooking With Herbs, hosted by Lavender and Lovage.
Fromage Homage 
I absolutely love these rainbow-colored beets and this tart looks scrumptious!
They’re so pretty aren’t they? I couldn’t resist layering them together.
This is so pretty! I love this recipe for a baby/wedding shower.
That would work – it tastes great cold too and you could make smaller individual tarts.
I love your photos to go along with your instructions! Looks yummy!
Thank you. It was very nice (if I say so myself! ;))
Beetroot apart (pet hate) that looks lovely and well done for the ricotta! Lovely flavours.
You hate beetroot?! Well, I never would have thought it! (I guess maybe squashes and sweet potatoes would work just as well.)
I’ve tried and tried to like it as an adult but it makes me gag. Other than that I’m entirely omniverous. Sweet potato sounds nice.
So much so lovely!!!!
🙂
Wonderful recipe! I love making my own ricotta.. I think I’ll be trying this very soon. I love the combination of ingredients.. makes it a beautiful tart / pizza.. 🙂 Great post!
Go on – try making the ricotta, it’s so easy!
It really is… I make it often. Learned from my grandmother. The only thing I haven’t mastered yet is ricotta salata
Wow, I am preaching to the converted then! Ricotta salata is the older, pressed version, right?
I never knew that there are things like yellow beets. Wish we had them here. Great tart. Will try out with my newly found ricotta skills thanks to you.
They are very pretty. But the red ones would be perfect on their own too. I picture your kitchen filled with sieves full of ricotta 😉
Yum yum!
I have never had the ‘beetroot toilet scare’. I even ate 4 whole beetroots once and nothing. Everything was normal. Maybe my body needed the juice for something! 🙂
Ha! My best one was when my toddler ate a load for Sunday lunch and then went to his childminder the next day. She was so terrified by the nappy he produced she nearly took him to A&E – whoops!
Yellow beets are my favorite. We call them “golden beets” here. There are also some with red and white layers! Yum.
Yes, I think they’re called golden beets here too. Red and white sound very pretty. I think you can get plain white ones too.
That looks wonderful!
Thank you! It was very tasty (while it lasted…)
I want to let you into a little secret: most people, food bloggers apart, are amazed we deem it necessary to make a pizza base when there are so many alternatives in the shops. Whilst my friends appreciate the lengths I go to, they all think I’m a little unhinged to do so at any given opportunity ;). Of course, it hasn’t stopped me making everything including the cheese for tomorrow’s pizza party, so I suppose I must concur!
Which is a long way of saying a bought crust is as good as a rest. We should all take these breaks where we can. Your tart looks delightful, and I bet was all the better because it could have been a lot more hassle.
Thanks 🙂 To be honest, I’ve tried making pizza base before and it was fairly inedible! Well done you for making an entire pizza from scratch, cheese and all, that’s amazing. Have a great party.