Tart of the Month Autumn Round Up

It's been a very busy month around here, so I didn't have time to make a new tart in September.  Instead, I thought I'd browse the archives for seasonal Autumn tarts I've made in the past.

There are some real winners here!

This Butternut Squash Tart with Sage, Honey & Chilis is really easy and makes a tasty, fancy appetizer or light lunch.

Stone fruits are still in season here in Ontario, and these Plum Tarts with Honey and Black Pepper are a sweet and sour treat.

This Roasted Vegetable Tarte Tatin takes a little more effort, but it is so beautiful and delicious, it's well worth it. 

I can't get enough butternut squash at this time of year, so here's another Butternut Squash Tart, this time with mushrooms and Gruyere.

Little Beet, Cheddar & Apple Tarts on puff pastry are a simple treat for a savoury dessert or snack.

Tarte flambée, or Flammekueche is similar to pizza and makes a wonderful dinner when nights get cooler.  

Carrots are in season and I love the way this Carrot and Herb Tart uses a variety of coloured carrots with the green of fresh herbs. 

And, finally, it isn't really fall without some pumpkin spice. These Pumpkin Spice Tarts have a gingersnap crust I love. 

Get outside and enjoy the season!  

Tart of the Month - Beet Cheddar and Apple

I'm getting addicted to these easy puff pastry tarts.  Most of the time you just top the puff pastry with a few ingredients, bake 20 minutes and you're done.

This recipe from Martha Stewart uses thin slices of raw beet.  It seems like an odd combination with cheddar and apples but the taste and texture is great!

Here's what you need:

Roasted Beet Salad with Creamy Jalapeño Dressing

Lately in our CSA basket we've been getting a lot of golden beets. They taste pretty much the same as red beets but they don't make as much of a mess when you peel and chop them.  This salad makes use of the pretty contrast between the red and golden beets and adds some creamy, spicy dressing to the mix.

Here's what you need for this salad:

Baby Beet Salad with Goat Cheese and Pecans

This is a lovely, fresh salad.  It makes a great side dish or main course.

Roasted Beet Salad with Blood Oranges & Beet Greens

My fantastic husband made this salad for me and it was delicious!  The recipe came from the always reliable Epicurious.

Here's what you need:

3 large beets with beet greens attached
2 large oranges
1 small onion
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel

1/4 cup crumbled chevre (soft goat's cheese)

Lentil Beet Salad

There are lots of healthy foods that I love. Broccoli, oatmeal, fruit, spinach... but there are a few very healthy things I just don't like so I try to sneak them into my diet with snazzy recipes now and then.  


This one is from Clean Eating magazine which doesn't seem to have the recipe online.  It includes beets, which I love, and lentils which I barely tolerate. I decided to serve it with fish for a real challenge, although not the salmon mentioned in the recipe - I can bear to eat some preparations of white fish but I can't stand salmon. So I pan seared some cod fillets which were not bad. 

For the salad you need only a few ingredients: field greens, beets and lentils. For the dressing, raspberries, mustard, olive oil, red wine vinegar and salt & pepper.

I roasted some beets the other day and saved some for this salad, cutting over an hour from the prep for this recipe - as you can see from this non-terrific photo:

This is actually a huge bag of bean and lentil mix I got at Costco that is not bad at all.

While the lentils cooked, I combined the dressing ingredients in the blender and then strained the raspberry seeds to make this hot pink concoction.  

Field greens on the plate, topped with the cooked lentils and chopped beets, then drizzled with pink raspberry dressing.

This turned out delicious. I was worried about it being too tart or sour with all that vinegar and raspberries and no sugar, but it was just lovely. And very healthy!




Food lessons learned:

• While peeling beets, don't let one slip out of your hands and skid across the counter unless you really like to clean
• Lentils are delicious with raspberry vinaigrette.  Who knew?

Photography lessons learned:

• I don't know if anyone can make cooked beets in foil look good on camera, but now we all know I can't
• I'm having trouble with timing. I generally do things a la minute when cooking, but when I have to take pictures too I need to be more prepared ahead of time. Tonight the fish almost burned so I need to be more careful