Carmelized Onion Tart

The inspiration for this tart came to me this morning in the supermarket after seeing a very nice display of Vidalia onions. What to do with 4 rather large Vidalia onions was a mystery to me at that point, but as I walked home, running a few errands along the way the recipe started to form in my mind. Vidalia onions are a sweeter onion than your regular Spanish or Yellow onion, so the flavor of the onion needed to be complimented with something tart or better yet, tangy. Goat cheese! I really like goat cheese, and the combination of goat cheese, carmelized onions, maybe some potato and spinach appealed to me greatly and so the recipe for this tart was born.

A few things to note if you decide to make this tart at home:

1. My intention was to make the crust from scratch-I almost always make my crusts from scratch but I ran out of time today and so at the last minute I was running to the supermarket to buy a pre-made frozen one. Over the years I've had occasion to use a few pre-made frozen crusts and they were just okay. The brand I found today was a pleasant surprise. Oronoque Orchards (I couldn't find a web site) makes a Deep Dish Pie Crust that was tender and flaky and pretty tasty. I am a crust person, I don't just like good crusts, I groove on good crusts- for a store bought crust this was pretty good.

2. My Fiancé thought the tart tasted just right, I felt like it was missing something, the flavor was more subtle than I intended, after thinking on it for awhile I think the tart would have tasted better if I had crumbled some cooked sausage meat into it, or maybe a few more anchovies.

3. I made the recipe up as I went along, rather than what I normally do which is use a recipe I like as a guideline and go from there. I added things here and there but without any real precise amounts to go by, there was a lot of "a pinch of this and a pinch of that". I did my best to measure things out, writing them down as I went along- but I can't guarantee complete accuracy. This took a lot longer to make than I had anticipated, it was worth the effort but it's not a practical recipe to make on a working night.

Carmelized Onion Tart

Ingredients

• recipe for 2 deep dish pie crusts OR 2 pre-made frozen crusts, I recommend: Oronoque Orchards
• 4 small russet potatoes, peeled, sliced, cooked until tender then set aside to cool.
• 4 large Vidalia Onions, sliced into thin rings
• Enough Crimini mushrooms to make 2 cups when roughly chopped without their stems
• 1 small yellow onion diced
• 3 ounces of pancetta diced into small pieces
• 3-5 anchovy filets
• 1 large clove of garlic
• 1 teaspoon of capers, roughly chopped
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 very large bunches of spinach, washed, pat dry
• approx. 3 ounces of Goat Cheese
• salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons butter
• olive oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 375º

To Carmelize the Onions

Heat the butter together with enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a heavy skillet. Add the sliced onions (its' going to seem like a lot but they cook down) and slowly cook over medium heat. The onions should be stirred often while cooking and will be done when they turn a caramel color. Set Aside.

In another pan, sauté the pancetta until crisp, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Drain off most of the fat leaving some to sauté the mushrooms, adding salt and pepper to taste, deglaze the pan with chicken stock or white cooking wine. Set the mushrooms aside.

In a heavy pot with a lid, heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil, add the garlic and sauté until it just begins to brown-add the capers, anchovies and spinach and quickly cover with the lid. (Don't worry about the spinach if it seems like a lot, it cooks down like the onions).

Line the still frozen pie crusts with a layer of potatoes using about half and setting the rest aside. Do the same with the spinach adding dollops of goat cheese throughout.

In a bowl, whisk together the left over potatoes, half the onions, the spinach, mushrooms, beaten egg, 1 cup of heavy cream, salt and freshly ground pepper and pour the mixture into the crusts, add the rest of the goat cheese and sprinkle the remaining onions on top. Cook for 40 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes, slice and serve. Written by Deb on January 6, 2003 06:39 PM