Radish Sweet Onion & Cheese Tart

when i made the fruit tarts, making use of the pâte sucrée recipe, in the winter i fretted over the pastry dough. it was no different this week when i tried to make pâte brisée. in fact, again, it shrank like a fearful penis in freezing cold water. the mini version came out a little better. i need to invest in pie weights.

my submission for Beets/Squash.





i was inspired by Catalan blogger La Cuina Vermella's Cheese Tartlets with Radish Petals. (let's not compare pix, mmkay? thx.) despite nuria's translation, the recipe was still rather vague. i referred to the cookbook her mom gave me and that helped a little, and then i improvised with the cheese. i used just plain cream cheese and mixed in some thyme.

the first pie crust, like i said, shrank. thankfully, i had a frozen pie crust handy to make use of the cheese, radish and onions i had sauteed in some butter until really caramelized. Nuria liked it, she had two slices. i liked it better the next day, cold.



radishes aren't something i've ever consumed, at least not these. they're rather blande and hard, texture-wise almost like water chestnuts which i hate. the cream cheese saved the day, on a day that required much saving in the kitchen.

The simple steps that are so easy to eff up are:
pre-baked pâte brisée or frozen pie crust
layer of softened herbed cream cheese
layer of caramelized onions
last layer of thinly sliced radishes, make it pretty to mask how awful the crust is.

bake in 350F oven for about 15 minutes if it's the pâte brisée or until frozen pie crust is done, about 20-25 minutes.