Roasted Beet-Feta Tart with Shallots and Thyme

For the pie crust, fill a measuring cup with water, and add a few ice cubes; set it aside. In a large bowl, mix together 1 7/8 cups flour, sugar and salt. Cut the very cold butter into small pieces. With either a pastry blender or your fingers, work butter into flour mixture until the butter is in tiny pea size pieces. You want to keep the butter from being completely incorporated, because as it melts in the oven, it leaves little pockets that will create flakiness. Drizzle half the ice water slowly into the dough, incorporating it with the flour to hold it together. Add the remaining water 1 tablespoon at a time as necessary. Pull dough together until it stays into a ball, but do not overwork. Flatten slightly into a disc, and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for 30 minutes. You can also use a pre-made pie-crust and skip this step entirely.

To roast beets, I leave them whole and drizzle them with olive oil before putting them in a packet of aluminum foil in the oven at 400F. It usually takes about 45 minutes to roast them, depending on size. A fork should be able to pierce the beet easily when they are done. Simply let cool and then peel and slice. You can roast them while the dough is chilling.

If you’ve made your own dough, roll out dough to a circle approximately 12 inches in diameter and place in a 9 inch spring form pan or tart pan with the bottom lined in parchment. Cover the dough with foil, and pour dried beans or pennies on top of the foil and pre-bake for about 10-12 minutes at 375F. The beans weigh down the crust to keep it from puffing while baking. Remove from the oven, remove foil and beans and get ready to fill the crust…

Slice the shallots, and sauté in olive oil until they are soft and just starting to brown.

Layer sliced beets and caramelized shallots inside the crust. Whisk together the eggs, milk, thyme and feta, and season with pepper. The cheese is usually salty enough on its own, so I don’t add salt. Place in the oven, and bake at 350F for about 45-50 minutes, then let cool, and remove from spring form.