Well, that didn’t go exactly according to plan…

I came across an attractive looking recipe, which not only looked good in the photo but sounded good from the ingredients… some of my favourite things, beetroot, blue cheese and figs. I glanced through the details and it looked quite straightforward… filo pastry with the figs having been cooked in a spicy wine syrup, spread on top, then slices of beetroot, then the syrup then a sprig of lightly fried crisp lemon thyme.

I assembled the ingredients and set to, cooking the filo pastry for the base, and cooking the figs in spiced red wine. I had my beetroot (the recipe says cook then peel – I don’t like the over-earthy flavour of the skins so I peel them first then cook them – I read an Iraqi recipe which did this and I really prefer the taste) I got everything organized, the beetroot cooled and sliced, the wine reduction(with a pinch of pepper, one juniper berry, one clove and a slice of orange peel and a cinnamon stick strained out of it) all syrupy, the blue cheese ready (I couldn’t find Oxford blue anywhere so I had to substitute…) and the figs chopped.

The filo pastry was very flat although I’d followed the instructions – because there are only two of us I had reduced the amount of everything. I tried to spread the chopped figs onto the delicate pastry but they just stuck together in very sticky clumps, so I arranged the clumps as prettily as I could. I carefully layered thin slices of beetroot, and then tried to spoon the syrup over it… ‘tried’, because the syrup had turned to toffee… I reclaimed the syrup and spooned it over the beetroot… it slid off… the cheese I had chosen wouldn’t crumble but became more clumps, so I arranged the cheese clumps on top… managing to turn some of them red with the beetroot. I don’t like thyme so I confess, I left it off.

How did it taste? Yummy!!!

I will definitely do this again… but because I’m not a first class great British chef, I will do it my own way… I think I will line a pie dish with the filo, have more figs and maybe keep them in some of the syrup so they can spread across the bottom of the tart; it will then be easy to prettily arrange the beetroot, which I might roast instead of boil, dress it with syrup which I will make with more orange peel, miss out the clove and cinnamon because they didn’t come through at all, and miss out the pepper because I thought it tasted rather nasty, but maybe add a couple of extra juniper berries instead. Then if I can’t find Oxford blue cheese, I’ll find a blue which does crumble.

I might even experiment by using a different pastry, and baking it with the figs and beetroot and a cheesy topping…

Here is Adam Gray’s brilliant recipe:

http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/beetroot-and-fig-tartlets-recipe