Courtesy Chef Peter Platt, The Old Inn on the Green
New Marlborough, Massachusetts
Ingredients:
1 c. sugar
¼ lb. sweet butter
2 beets, medium sized, washed and trimmed of tops
1 package frozen puff pastry, defrosted
12 small aluminum tart pans
1 c. goat cheese mixed with chopped chives and parsley and a little EVOO
To cook beets:
Wrap each beet individually in foil; place beets on a cookie sheet in a 350° oven and cook until easily pierced with a knife, about 1-1½ hrs. Allow beets to cool until you can comfortably peel off their skins.
To make caramel:
Combine sugar and butter in a medium saucepan over low heat and stir with a whisk until caramel emulsifies and turns light brown. Caramel is extremely hot and dangerous, so handle carefully. Pour hot caramel into a 2-4 cup Pyrex measuring cup to make it easier to pour. This also stops the caramel from continuing to darken.
Assembly:
Pour hot caramel into tart pans to just cover bottom. Caramel will harden. This is OK. (Recipe may be prepared to this point up to a day in advance).
Slice each beet into ½ “ thick rounds, and use a round cookie cutter to trim the beets so that they are the same diameter as the bottom of the tart shells.
Cover beets with a round of puff pastry that has been cut into the same diameter as the top of the tart pan.
Bake at 425° until pastry is browned and caramel is bubbling, about 10 minutes.
Invert the hot tart onto a plate, being careful not to get burned by the caramel.
Garnish the top of each tart with a dollop of herbed goat cheese. Serve immediately.