Onion Tart

The inspiration for this fantastic Onion Tart comes from my friend Conrad, who regularly contributes wine suggestions for the blog. I do like getting inspiration from him. He is not afraid of flavour, interesting combinations or doing things just a little bit differently. This is also a man who always makes his own puff pastry so I am usually in awe of what he creates in his kitchen without even breaking a sweat.

His inspiration for the tart comes from Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen’s book called The French Affair. I also have the book in my collection and it is without a doubt the most beautifully shot and styled recipe book I have. I have no dreams of publishing a recipe book – photographing one for sure – but if I ever do publish one I would want it to be in the style of Jan Hendrik’s. A visual feast for the eyes that you just have to page through regularly.

Conrad usually roasts the onions in sherry and thyme. I must be the only person who has managed to kill a thyme plant and I did not have sherry in the house, so replaced both with brandy and the very underrated parsley. I was really happy with the results and bonus that the tart is so easy to make.

But what makes this tart really special is the parmesan pastry crust. As the parmesan bakes on top of the pastry it forms a very crispy crust – and the taste reminds me of the burnt edges of a really good grilled cheese sandwich. Delicious!

I kept a 2cm border on the edges of the pastry to form the edge of the tart. If that is too much pastry for you, you can trim it down to just fit in the pie dish.

I think this a perfect tart to serve as a snack with drinks or with some micro leaves as a starter for a special meal.

Onion Tart

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Ingredients

  

• 500 g baby onions
• 2 tbs butter
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 2 tbs brandy
• 1 tbs apple cider vinegar
• pinch of salt
• 1 tbs chopped parsley
• 400 g puff pastry store bought, unrolled and cut in half, and one half refrozen for another use
• 50 g grated parmesan
• 100 g chevin goats milk cheese
• chopped parsley for garnish

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C
• Peel and quarter the onions and place in a single layer in a 20cm diameter round pie dish.
• If the onion are a bit large cut them into 6 pieces rather.
• Melt the butter with the oil, brandy, vinegar and salt.
• Stir in the chopped parsley and pour over the onions.
• Roast the onions for 45 minutes and remove from the oven.
• Increase the oven temp to 200 degrees C
• Gently roll out the pastry on a floured surface until it is 1cm - 2cm larger than the pie dish and trim off the square edges.
• Place over the onions once roasted, tuck in the edges of the pastry into the pie dish.
• Sprinkle with the parmesan cheese and bake for 25 minutes until puffed up and golden.
• Remove from the oven and leave to stand for 5 minutes before turning out onto a flat plate.
• Crumble the chevin over the tart, sprinkle with some more chopped parsley and serve.
• Adapted from Conrad Louw