Cook and Drink

Let’s enjoy the last fresh beetroots of this season by making a pie with lots of beetroot, cheese and thyme. The pie combines sweetness with savoury and slightly tangy flavours. Best to prepare a day in advance, allowing for the flavours to integrate. We top the pie with Chioggia beetroot because of their beautiful colour and pattern.

Wine Pairing

Caruso e Minini Terre Siciliane Bibbo Zibibbo, doesn’t that sound like a wonderful wine? The wine is produced by the Sicilian company Caruso e Minini, which explains the first part of the name. How about Bibbo Zibibbo? The grape used to make this wine is the Muscat of Alexandria, known as Zibibbo in Sicily. The wine is aromatic with fruity notes (think apricot, hints of almond and orange blossom). You will taste a gentle, dry wine with flavours of dried fruit. The wine has a long and present finish.
In general, we suggest a light, dry white wine with floral and fruity notes. It must have some sweetness to balance the taste of the beetroots.

What You Need

• For the Dough
  • 100 grams of All Purpose Flour
  • 50 grams of Water
  • 10 grams of Olive Oil
  • 1 gram of Salt
• For the Filling
  • One Red Beetroot
  • One Chioggia Beetroot
  • Firm Goat Cheese
  • One Red Onion
  • Thyme
  • Black Pepper

What You Do

1. Clean the beetroots and wrap seperatly in aluminium foil
2. Transfer to the oven at 180 ˚C or 355 ˚F and cook for 45-60 minutes, depending on the size
3. Let cool
4. Combine flour, salt, water and olive oil and make the dough
5. Kneed for a minute or so and store in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes
6. Slice and quarter the onion
7. Fry the onion on low heat in olive oil until soft
8. Peel and slice the beetroots
9. Roll out the dough using a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface. Coat a 15 cm or 6 inch round baking form with oil
10. Cover the form with the dough
11. Build the pie, first a layer of red beetroot, followed by grated cheese, onion, lots of thyme and black pepper
12. Repeat
13. Top with gioggia beetroot
14. Brush the top with olive oil
15. Transfer to the oven for 40-50 minutes on 180-200 ˚C or 355-390 ˚F
16. Immediately after having removed the pie from the oven, brush the top with olive oil. This will intensify the colour of the crust
17. Let cool and enjoy the next day; warm is best (preferably 65 ˚C or 150 ˚F)

PS

We didn’t explain Bibbo as part of name Caruso e Minini Terre Siciliane Bibbo Zibibbo . We believe it’s the pet name of Zibibbo.