Almond – Brazil Nut Tarts with Fig, Date & Goat Cheese Pâté, Golden Beets, Red Leaf Watercress
My inspiration for these tarts derived from a salad we eat often. I thought it would be fun to figure out how to restructure it into a tart. For the almond & brazil nut tart shells, I chose to use unsalted butter but you can use grape seed oil or a nut oil if you’d like. I used almonds and brazil nuts, which is what I had on hand, use your favorites, mix and match. This isn’t your typical tart shell as there’s no flour or eggs, and that makes it’s pretty delicate. It’s simple to work with though, just grind up the nuts and toss in the garlic, salt and butter and press it into the pans. After they bake, let them sit on the cooling rack for about 15 minutes then refrigerate for another 15 minutes, this will firm them up a little. I filled them while they were still in the tart tins, this way they won’t break apart before you get them on the plates. If you make the fig, date & goat cheese pâté ahead of time and refrigerate it, bring it to room temperature and give it a good stir before spreading it into the shells. I used golden beets here, but any other kind will work great. I found this amazingly beautiful red leaf watercress at the market, but young watercress, arugula or even radish sprouts would be a few of my other choices.
