Caramelized onion and goat cheese tart

Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Caramelized onion and goat cheese tart

These easy, tasty individual tarts that are full of flavor and comfort factor.

Prep Time10

Cook Time25

Total Time35

Course: Lunch

Cuisine: American

Servings: individual tarts

Calories: 486kcal

Author: Caroline

Save

Ingredients

For crust

¾ cup flour can use all purpose/plain or part wholewheat pastry flour - see notes
3 tablespoon unsalted butter cold
1 pinch salt
2 tablespoon cold water or possibly more/less - see notes

For tart filling

12 oz onion 12oz is approx 1 large onion
1 tablespoon butter
1 pinch salt
1 pinch sugar
½ teaspoon dried thyme or a little more if fresh
2 oz soft goats cheese
1 egg
¼ cup heavy cream double cream

Salad to serve (optional)

2 handfuls arugula rocket, or eg sliced romaine or watercress
12 green grapes approx, halved
¼ bulb fennel thinly sliced
1 teaspoon olive oil approx
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar approx

Instructions

For pastry bases

Place the flour, salt and butter, cut in chunks, in a food processor and pulse to form coarse crumbs. Alternatively, you can use a pastry cutter to mix the butter in by hand.
Gradually add the water so that the mixture starts to come together in clumps. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll it out relatively thinly (around 3mm/ ⅛ in).
If needed, lightly grease three small tart/quiche pans (5 inch/12 cm) unless they are non-stick in which case not needed. Fill each of the tart pans with pastry, pressing into the corners, then trim the pastry along the top edge. Place the tart pans on a baking sheet/tray.
Chill the pastry cases while you preheat the oven to 375F/190C.
When the oven is ready, line the pastry with parchment and fill with baking beans. Blind bake the pastry for around 15 minutes until the pastry is relatively dry around the edges but not brown. Remove the parchment and beans and cook another two minutes more so the pastry is dry. Set aside to cool.

For filling

While the bases are cooking, make the filling. Halve and thinly slice the onions and cut larger slices into smaller lengths.
Warm the butter in a medium-large skillet/frying pan over a medium heat then add the onions. Cook them, stirring now and then, so that the onions soften evenly and reduce down a little. Reduce the heat if they are browning too quickly - you want them to be completely soft and reduced before they brown. They should brown gradually over around 30 minutes. If needed, add a little more butter to help avoid burning.
As the onion is starting to brown, add the salt, sugar and thyme and continue to cook for a minute or two more until the onions are gently browned and very soft.
As the onions cook, whisk together the egg and cream, along with a pinch of salt and pepper.
Divide the onions between the tart base and spread out in a layer. Crumble the goat cheese evenly over the onions.
Pour the egg-cream mixture over the top of the cheese, making sure you pour all oven to help it be even. Gently press down the cheese to make sure it sits largely under the egg mixture. Add a little extra thyme and pepper on top, if you like.
Bake the tarts for around 20 - 25 minutes until gently browned on top and the egg mixture is set.

To serve (including salad, if adding)

While they are cooking, if you are adding the salad alongside, mix together the salad by tossing the arugula or other leaves, grapes and fennel in a little oil and vinegar. Divide between plates or serve alongside to serve yourself.
Once they are ready, leave the tartlets to rest a minute before removing from the pans. You can serve them either warm or at room temperature.

Video

Notes

The pastry crust works well with both all purpose/plain flour or a blend of that and wholewheat pastry flour. If using part wholewheat, you will most likely need a bit more water than above, while it should be about right if not. Either way, add gradually until the dough just comes together.

While this recipe is intended as being made as individual tarts, you could make it as a larger tart instead. Broadly, if you double the pastry it should work in a tart/quiche pan which is approx 9.25in/23.5cm diameter and 1in/2.5cm deep. Then for the filling, I would suggest around double the onion and cheese, but a little more of the egg mixture to make it a little more quiche-like and since it is a little deeper. I'd suggest about 3 times the recipe here, so three eggs and around ¾ cup/180ml cream in total. It will also likely need a bit longer to cook.

Nutrition

Tried this recipe?Please consider !