Tarte Flambee Alsatian Bacon Onion Tart Recipes

Steps:

• Make pastry:
• Blend together flour, butter, shortening, and salt in a bowl with your fingertips or a pastry blender (or pulse in a food processor) just until most of mixture resembles coarse meal with some small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Drizzle evenly with 4 tablespoons ice water and gently stir with a fork (or pulse in processor) until incorporated.
• Squeeze a small handful: If it doesn't hold together, add more ice water, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, stirring (or pulsing) until just incorporated, then test again. (Do not overwork mixture, or pastry will be tough.)
• Turn out mixture onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 6 equal portions. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once or twice in a forward motion. Gather dough together with pastry scraper and press into a ball, then flatten into a disk. Chill dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.
• Roll out dough on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin into a 14-inch round and fit into tart pan. Trim excess dough, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang, then fold overhang over pastry and press against side to reinforce edge. Lightly prick bottom with a fork and chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400°F.
• Line chilled shell with foil and fill with pie weights. Bake until pastry is set and pale golden along rim, 15 to 20 minutes. Carefully remove foil and weights and bake shell until golden all over, 10 to 15 minutes more. Transfer shell to a rack. (Leave oven on.)
• Prepare filling while shell bakes:
• Cook bacon in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer bacon with a slotted spatula to paper towels to drain and pour off bacon fat. Add butter to skillet and cook onions with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper over moderate heat, stirring, until just wilted, about 2 minutes. Cover surface of onions with a round of parchment or wax paper (or cover skillet with a tight-fitting lid) and continue to cook, lifting parchment to stir frequently, until onions are very soft and pale golden, about 20 minutes. Stir in bacon, then remove from heat and cool 10 minutes.
• Whisk together crème fraîche, eggs, nutmeg, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl, then stir in onions.
• Fill and bake tart:
• Pour filling into tart shell, spreading onions evenly, and bake until filling is set and top is golden, 25 to 35 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.
• In a medium saute pan, cook the bacon over a medium-low heat until it begins to render, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the onions and cook until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Season with pepper. Set aside to let cool. Add the thyme to the cooled bacon-onion mixture.
• In a bowl, combine the farmer's cheese, creme fraiche, egg yolk and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
• Flour a flat surface and place the puff pastry on top. Flour the top and gently roll into a 13-by-18-inch rectangle. Cut the pastry in half and transfer each to a lined sheet pan. Using a fork, dock the puff pastry (pierce it slightly with the tines), leaving a 1-inch border untouched.
• Divide the cheese mixture between the two sheets of pastry and spread evenly on the docked area. Top each tart with half of the bacon-onion mixture.
• Place the tarts in the oven on the lower racks and bake, rotating halfway through, until the crusts are dark golden, about 25 minutes. Garnish with the pecorino and chives.

Steps:

• If you have a pizza stone, place it on the middle rack of your oven, top with a baking sheet, and heat the oven to 425 degrees. (If you don't have a stone, just place the baking sheet on the oven rack).
• In a medium bowl, combine crème fraîche, fromage blanc, nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon salt and the pepper. Set aside while you make the dough.
• In a separate medium bowl, whisk to combine flour, baking powder and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. In a small bowl, whisk to combine olive oil, egg yolk and 1/4 cup water. Add to dry ingredients and use a fork to combine until it creates a shaggy dough.
• Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 1 minute, until the dough is uniform and elastic. (Flour your hands as necessary to keep the dough from sticking.) Roll out to a 12-inch round, then transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet without a rim (or use an overturned rimmed baking pan).
• Spread fromage blanc mixture evenly over the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border along the edges. Sprinkle bacon and onions over fromage blanc. Slide tart, still on parchment paper, off baking sheet and directly onto baking sheet in oven.
• Bake until top is beginning to brown, and sides are golden and crispy, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and slide off parchment paper to serving platter. Serve warm.