Our new year’s resolution is to make more tarts and conquer our pastry fear which is largely due to lack of practice. We’ve started with this tart filled with melting onions and cheese. Serve with a green salad.
Wine Suggestion: we paired this with a wine that opitimises a balance between freshness, richness, minerailty and fruit: Soalheiro’s Alvarinho. Fresh and elegant with tropical fruit flavours cut with a minerally saltiness balances the cheese. Plus the sweetness to the slowly cooked onions complements the richly layered fruits in the wine.
Cheese & Onion Tart – serves 6
- a sheet of short-crust pastry (we were so enthusiastic that we made our own but really no need)
- 1 egg, beaten
FOR THE FILLING:
- 5 large brown onions
- 50g butter
- a small glass of white wine
- a few sprigs of thyme, leaves picked
- 120g cheese, the original recipe suggests Comté (we used a mix of Comté, Cheddar & Gruyère), coarsely grated
- 150ml full-cream milk
- 3 eggs
Thinly slice the onions and add to a pan with the butter, seasoning well with salt. Cover with a lid and cook slowly for 30 minutes, stirring regularly, until sweet and very tender. It’s find to let them caramelise a little but don’t let them burn. If there is a lot of liquid in the pan, remove the lid and allow this to bubble off. Add the wine, allow to cook off, then turn the heat off and allow to cool.
Lightly flour a cold surface and roll the pastry out to 3mm thick. Lift into a 25cm loose-bottom tart tin and use a little piece of dough to press the pastry into the tin and leave an overhang around the sides. Prick the base with a fork and chill in the freezer for 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 170C fan.
Line the pastry with baking parchment and fill with baking beans or rice. Put the tin onto a baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the pastry is firm. Remove the beans and paper, brush with egg and return to the oven for another 10 minutes, until golden. Trim off any excess pastry with a knife.
Put 100g of the cheese into a bowl with the milk, cream, eggs and thyme and mix together. Season well, then add the onions and mix again. Pour most of the mixture into the pastry case but dont fill all the way to the top. Make sure the onion is evenly spread, then place into the oven. Carefully pour in the remaining mixture, making sure it doesnt overflow. Sprinkle with the reserved cheese and bake for 30 minutes or until the top is caramelised and the middle has set. Leave to cool for 15 minutes before serving.
(Original recipe from The Farm Table by Julius Roberts, Ebury Press, 2023.)
Jono & Jules do food & wine 