Recipe: Beet and Goat Cheese Tartlets With Walla Walla Sweet Onion Purée

Serves 8

Adapted from "Rover's: Recipes from Seattle's Chef in the Hat"

Cynthia Nims' versions of Thierry Rautureau's recipes are meticulous in detail; what we have here is a super-simplified version of the recipe. Use your favorite recipe for butter pastry, or check the original when you buy the book.

4 small beets (about 1 pound)

1/3 cup vegetable broth

2 tablespoons olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground white pepper, to taste

10 ounces pâté brisée (butter pastry)

½ pound fresh white goat cheese, preferably caillé, crumbled

1 tablespoon shallots, minced

1 teaspoon fresh chives, minced

½ teaspoon garlic, minced

¼ cup heavy cream

Minced fresh chives, olive oil, sea salt and freshly ground white pepper, for garnish

1. Cook the beets in salt water until tender, about 1 hour. Trim the cooked beets into 1 ½-inch cylinders and slice them into coins, ¼ inch thick. Purée the trimmings with the vegetable broth, olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Save the beet purée to decorate the serving plates.

2. On a floured surface, roll the pâté brisée to 1/16 inch thick and cut it into eight 4-inch circles. Press the dough into eight 3-inch tart pans, prick the dough with a fork to prevent it from puffing up and bake the tartlet shells in a moderate oven (about 350 degrees) until they are golden brown, about 10 minutes.

3. Combine the goat cheese with the shallots, chives, garlic and cream, and pile it into the baked tartlet shells. Arrange the beet slices in concentric circles on top of the cheese. Just before serving, pop the tarts back into the oven until the cheese is heated through, 8 to 10 minutes.

To serve: Warm the onion purée (recipe follows) and distribute it evenly between 8 serving plates. Put a tart on top of each puddle of purée, drizzle olive oil over the beets and top with fresh chives. Decorate the plates with droplets of the beet purée.