French Friday: Beet, Apple, and Gruyère Tart
All summer long, our living room was shaded by the big, green-leafed tree outside, and now, in the wake of a hail storm, it’s turned yellow and half-clothed. In the mornings, the living room is nearly bright again. It all feels so sudden, and in a way, shocking. I resist and resist and resist the changing seasons, and then it somehow surprises me that the new one’s ushered in anyway.
My resistance gives way to an embrace with beets and apples. They’re hard to resist, I find. Don’t you love the big wooden crates at the farmer’s market, filled with jonagolds, mutsus, and honeycrisps? Choosing fruit from there feels almost as authentic as real apple picking. It’s all such fun, wearing a light coat again and crunching through leaves, that I’m beginning to like these cool, overcast days. Though I’m not sure where my mind’s been this week. I showed up at the drugstore without my wallet the other day, and get sucked into tasks only to look up, hours later, to remember the rest of my to do list. I’ve been a bit of a half-wit.
The one area in which I have been a total and bona fide genius this week, though, has been in the kitchen, which is a quite a way to be welcomed back to cooking. Sebastian declared this, somewhat surprisingly to me, one of the best things I’ve ever made. Which is particularly nice to hear when a recipe is easy-peasy, don’t you think? You grate some cheese, slice some apples and some beets, and plop them on pre-made puff pastry. Bake until the tart is golden around the edges, and serve with a nicely tart green salad to cut through all that richness.
I hope you all have a lovely fall weekend! Bring on the pumpkins!
Beet, Apple, and Gruyère Tart
adapted from Everyday Food
Serves 4 as a main course, 6-8 as a starter
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
3/4 cup shredded Gruyère (3 ounces)
1 small apple, cored and very thinly sliced
1 small beet, scrubbed, peeled, and very thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place pastry on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Score a one-inch border around perimeter with a knife (taking care not to cut all the way through) and prick all over with a fork. Sprinkle half the grated cheese over pastry. Spread apple and beet slices over cheese, tucking them under each other and arranging in a pretty way. Top with remaining cheese, season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle thyme over top. Bake until pastry is golden brown and slightly puffed, 15-20 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Samantha Angela @ Bikini Birthday: This sounds good but I’d probably cut out the beets. I just don’t like them although I really wish I did!1 year ago
I’d put in another root vegetable to round it out a bit, then. Sweet potatoes might be really nice.1 year ago
Lisa (dinner party): Very pretty. And I love that you don’t even have to pre-cook the beet!1 year ago
Kristine: Perfect timing! I have a giant bag of beets that were so ridiculously cheap I couldn’t resist and am on the lookout for tasty beet recipes. Thank you!1 year ago
Sasha: This looks so beautiful I might just have to get over my fear of baking and make it!1 year ago
Lisa, Exactly! Beets are such a pain to deal with, but this wasn’t so bad.
Kristine, I’ve been collecting beet recipes like they’re going out of style, especially ones that make use of the greens, too, so stay tuned for more!
Sasha, Go for it!1 year ago
heather: this is genius for, like, eight reasons…i was so excited to find, earlier this year, that store-bought frozen puff pastry generally doesn’t have any dairy in it (!!!)–quite a boondoggle in our house, where my husband can’t have dairy from cows.
i did basically this same thing over the summer with grapes and red onion and herbs and cheese…this is endlessly tweakable to seasons, availability, guests (vegetarian? not?), cheese on hand…you’re brill, obvs.
(p.s. with the season finale of ‘mad men’ on sunday, this seems a good a time as any to admit that in my head, you’re basically joan holloway.)1 year ago
yossy: fab! that tart looks like a work of modern art!1 year ago
Heather, Grapes, red onion, herbs and cheese––yum! I didn’t think of it, but you’re right: this tart really is so adaptable to the seasons. Also: that’s my favorite compliment ever. Thanks!
Yossy, I’ve got abstract expressionism on the brain lately! It’s almost a Rothko!1 year ago
Sara Rose: So, Sarah, love, we’re facing a dilemma. Nolan adores the idea of this tart EXCEPT FOR BEETS. Aside from my borscht, he will not TOUCH beets. Help me brainstorm a substitution because I’ve got everything else!!! Do you think turnip slices or perhaps even asparagus would be the WRONG flavor combo for this?1 year ago
Samantha had the same quandary above. I suggested sweet potatoes, but I think butternut squash would be nice too. Turnips or parsnips are a good idea, too. I’d stick with root vegetables, though, to keep the “flavor profile” the same. Let us know how the substitutions turn out.1 year ago
Morgan: I love reading your blog but when you talk about seasons it makes me sad! I live in Texas and it’s STILL hot outside!
All the leaves on the trees are intact and the only time I’m wearing a sweater is inside my school’s library. Anyways, it’s nice to hear about how someone is enjoying the way October is supposed to feel.1 year ago