Caramelised Onion Tarts ? and a picnic in the Springtime.

For the first time in the last 4 months, it was warm enough eat lunch outside the confines of a well heated cocoon. So we decided we’d unleash the picnic basket for the first time since summer, and take a gander up to the forest, about 15 minutes from our place (yes there are herds of deer that live there, and yes you do wish you lived near it).

The next step, was of course to decide on the delicious food we could take with us. So, into the oven went 6 nicely proved white bread rolls, on went some potatoes to boil, for a delicious cold potato salad, and for the main event, 6 individual caramelised onion tarts went into a roaring hot oven.

And they came out well. REALLY well. I mean mouthwateringly well, even after two days in the fridge. These things are so good they’ll make your teeth fall out with pleasure, if that’s at all possible. Of course we had to make our own pastry, because although puff is NICE, for a good picnic tart/quiche one must really use a crumbly, buttery savoury shortcrust pastry, that can hold itself firmly together, whilst being eaten with one hand, sitting on an old blanket in the spring sun. Wow there were a lot of commas in that sentence – please excuse me, grammar Nazis, but these tarts make you gush.

So I suppose I’d better write out the pastry dough as well. It comes from the Bourke St Bakery cookbook that is a recent and already much loved edition to our collection. The amazingness of this pastry is really what warranted me coming up with this recipe. This is one of the things I love about cooking (especially savoury things). If you throw nice ingredients together -  and you KNOW they’re nice – ie Goats cheese, eggs, sugary caramelised onions, creme fraiche and black pepper – You can’t go wrong. The only thing you can go is right. Very very right.

Ultimate Savoury Shortcrust

3oo g unsalted butter cut into 1.5cm cubes

600g plain flour

tspn salt

15ml vinegar

170ml water, chilled

Take the butter out of the fridge, about 20 minutes before using – it needs to be just soft, but still cold. The most important thing in this recipe is that the ingredients stay cold. The original recipe evenn calls for the flour and vinegar to be chilled, which I suppose wouldn’t hurt, but requires too much fore-thought for my taste. If you are mixing by hand, toss the butter with the flour and salt in a bowl to partly combine. You can use a food processor to, but I found that by doing this, I cut up the butter too small, and handwork would have been better. However, if you don’t like to get your hands dirty – combine salt and flour and butter, in a processor, and pulse in 1 second bursts, about three or four times to combine. You should now have lots of flour, punctuated by big lumps of butter, and maybe SOME small lumps of butter. Turn out onto a clean surface and gather together a little. Sprinkle the combined water and vinegar over the top of the floury pile, and use the ball of your hand, to smear the mixture away from you. Gather together and repeat this smearing process, twice or three times more, until you have what should look like a pastry dough, with streaks of butter marbled through it. Divide into two 2cm thick disks, and refridgerate overnight, or for at least 2 hours. Remove the pastry after this time, and wait 15 minutes before rolling it out. I think the best method is to use 2 sheets of baking paper to roll it out between. This pastry is quite delicate, but don’t get discouraged, it’s also easy to patch up. Try not to use to much flour, this will ruin the final product. Roll out to 3mm thick, and put in the fridge again for about 2 hours, to let the gluten relax. Use one disk to cut out 6 rounds, big enough to fit into six  4 inch individual tart moulds. Use the other half for another recipe – you won’t regret it!

Caramelised Onion Filling

600g Onions – can be a mix of white and red, and shallots if you have them

200ml Cream

3 Eggs

100g Feta Cheese

2 tblsp Brown Sugar

Balsamic Vinegar

Slice onions thinly, add to a frying pan on low heat, with a knob of butter, big splash of balsamic and brown sugar. Leave for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. In a small saucepan, combine cheese, and cream and heat and stir, until smooth. Crack 3 eggs into a bowl, and whisk until a little fluffy, then add the cheese mixture. Divide onions between the 6 tart shells, then the egg and cheese mixture, and combine a little with a fork, to make sure it is spread evenly. Cook for 35-40 minutes, in a fan forced oven – preferably with a bottom heat setting added (our oven has this, some may not).

They keep in the fridge for 3 days, and will easily freeze for 2 months, just remove and warm till crispy in the oven.

So – break out the picnic basket. Sit in the sun. Get a big glass bottle of ice cold homemade lemonade and eat one or two or three of these tarts! You’ll thank me, I promise.