Smoky Cheese Onion Tart Recipes

Steps:

• For crust: Preheat oven to 400F.
• Combine flour and salt and cut in butter and Crisco until mixture resembles coarse meal.
• Add 3 tblsps ice water and combine until it forms a ball.
• Flatten into a 6 inch disk and chill it, wrapped in plastic wrap, for 1 hour.
• Roll out to 1/8 inch thick on lightly-floured surface and fit into a 9 inch tart pan.
• Trim edge and prick all over with a fork.
• Bake in middle of oven for 10 minutes.
• Let cool.
• Maintain oven temperature.
• For filling: Cook onion in butter over moderately-low heat until softened.
• Mash blue cheese with half and half and stir in eggs, Cheddar, onion and salt and pepper to taste.
• Pour into shell and bake for 10 minutes.
• Reduce oven temperature to 350F and bake 25 minutes longer.

Steps:

• Make the pastry shell: In a large chilled bowl combine the flour, salt, chilled butter, and the lard or vegetable shortening. Blend together until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
• Pour 3 tablespoons of ice water over the mixture. Toss together lightly and gather the dough into a ball. Add more water until dough holds together. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour before using.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a 14-inch round, about 1/8-inch thick. Place the dough in a 9-inch tart pan. Gently press it into the bottom and around the sides of the pan, being careful not to stretch the dough. Trim off the excess dough by rolling the pin over the rim of the pan.
• Line the inside of the tart shell with aluminum foil and fill with beans or pie weights. Blind bake in the middle shelf of the oven for 10 minutes. Remove foil, prick the dough all over with a fork and return to the oven for an additional 10 minutes, or until the shell begins to brown.
• Make the filling: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a heavy 6 to 8-inch skillet, heat the oil over moderate heat until haze forms above it. Add the onions and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until they are soft and transparent but not brown. Stir in the paprika and set aside off the heat.
• In a bowl toss together the Gruyere and Emmentaler cheese until thoroughly combined. Spread half the cheese evenly in the baked pastry shell and scatter the onions over it. Cover with the remaining cheese.
• Beat the eggs cream, milk, salt, and nutmeg together with a wire whisk and pour the mixture slowly and evenly over the cheese.
• Bake in the upper third of the oven for 10 minutes. Increase the heat to 425 degrees and bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until the filling has puffed and browned and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove pan from the oven and remove the tart from the pan.
• Serve hot or at room temperature as a first or main course.

Steps:

• Blend flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Scatter butter over flour, top with lid and pulse 12 pulses to cut butter into flour to a coarse meal consistency.
• Dump butter-flour mixture into a medium stainless bowl. Make a well in the center and pour ice-cold water into the well.
• Using a flexible plastic dough scraper instead of your warm hands, bring the dough together by folding and pressing. Be firm and brisk and get the dough past its shaggy stage into a neat disk, trying to avoid using your hands or too much kneading. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.
• Meanwhile, cut the onions in half and peel them. Slice the halves with the ribs (root end to sprout end direction), not against, to create julienne slices rather than half moons.
• In a wide sauté pan over medium-low heat, melt the bacon fat and slowly sweat the onions until they are caramelized. Take all the minutes you need - 25 or so - to let them soften to translucent, then to let the water they release start to evaporate, then to allow the sugars they contain to start to brown in the pan, so that you end up with soft, sweet and evenly browned onions. This is achieved by a slow caramelization. Set onions aside to cool.
• Roll tart dough out to a 1/4-inch-thick round, and drape over a round 10-inch fluted false-bottom tart pan. Lay dough into the pan, gently pressing into the bottom, and roll the pin across the pan to cut off the excess dough. Use your fingers to press the edges into the flutes, accentuating the shape of the dough edge. Dock the bottom of the dough with the tines of a fork, weight the pastry with beans or weight and blind-bake for 25 minutes.
• In a bowl, beat the egg with the cream. Stir in the caramelized onions. Season with pepper, nutmeg and salt to taste. Stir well, and make sure the onions are all evenly coated with the custard.
• Remove tart shell from oven, and slip it onto a baking sheet. Remove weights, fill with the onion-custard mixture and distribute it evenly. Return tart to oven on the sheet, and bake for 25 minutes, or until custard has set, the tops of the onions start to achieve a deeper brown and the dough is dark golden brown at the edges.
• Remove from the ring, and allow to cool just a few minutes on the rack, so that the piping hot tart shell can kind of tighten up enough to be sliced with a sharp chef's knife. (In the first few minutes straight out of the oven, the dough is kind of soft from the heat, possibly giving you the false impression that you have a soggy tart. Let it sit on the rack just to shake off this initial soft stage and to recrisp and refirm, which it will.) Cut into wedges, and serve while hot.

Steps:

• Cut thawed puff pastry into six 3- to 4-inch rounds using a cookie cutter. Roll edges of each pastry slightly to form 6 small tarts. Set aside.
• Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat; stir in sweet onion. Cook and stir until onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low and continue cooking and stirring until onion is very tender and dark brown, about 40 minutes more. Remove from heat and set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Bring 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat and let simmer until thickened, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar and brown sugar. Remove from heat and set aside.
• Divide cooked onions between the 6 tart shells and place on a baking sheet. Sprinkle goat cheese evenly on top of each tart.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 7 minutes. Remove from the oven and drizzle each with balsamic vinegar reduction.
• Return tarts to the oven and continue to bake until cheese is bubbly and tarts are golden brown, about 8 minutes more.

Steps:

• Put the flour, butter and salt into the bowl of a food processor, then pulse until the mix looks like fine crumbs. Splash in 4 tbsp cold water, then pulse to a dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface, shape into a smooth disc, then wrap and chill for at least 10 mins. Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6.
• Roll pastry out on a floured surface until large enough to line a 23cm loose-bottomed tart tin. Line the tin with the pastry, leaving any excess pastry overhanging. Line with baking paper, then fill with baking beans. Bake on a baking sheet for 15 mins. Take out the paper and beans, then bake for 10 mins more until pale golden and cooked. Use a serrated knife to trim the pastry level with the tin - resting the knife flat on the edge of the tin will help achieve an even finish.
• While the pastry cooks, soften the onions in the oil over a medium heat for 10 mins until golden. Beat the eggs and cream together, then season to taste. Crumble up the hard cheeses and chop or pull the creamy cheese into small pieces. Scatter the cheese into the pastry case, add the onions, then pour in the egg mix. Turn the oven down to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3 and bake for 40 mins until set and lightly golden.