Onion and Rosemary Tart

I served this dish at a potluck where it received rave reviews. I think its success is due in part to the use of sweet onions. This dish is quite easy, except for the hassle of making the pastry. I skipped a few steps and it turned out great. I'll tell you how I did it, and how it was supposed to be done.

I'm not exactly clear what makes something a tart rather than a quiche, but I think it may be the use of a tart pan which is shallow and has scalloped edges, such as the one shown in the picture. My tart pan has a removable bottom, so you can remove the sides of the pan and serve the tart with just the crust showing, which is much prettier than including the pan in your presentation.

To make a tart shell according to the recipe you have to make the dough, let it chill in the refrigerator for 15-30 minutes, roll it out and put it in the tart pan, freeze it for half an hour or more, pre-bake it, take it out of the oven and fill it with your filling, and then bake. If you started early in the day or made your shell ahead of time, that would be fine. I didn't have time for all that so I let it chill for about 5 minutes, didn't bother freezing it, and pre-baked it while preparing the filling. It turned out great and saved some time. You could also use a store-bought pie crust and save a lot of time, but increase your cost for the dish. The homemade crust uses half all-purpose flour, and half whole-wheat pastry flour, which makes it better for you than a store-bought crust. Even if you use store-bought, I think you would still need to pre-bake it so that it doesn't get soggy when you add the wet ingredients.

It may sound a little strange to make a quiche-like filling out of just onions and rosemary, but it is absolutely delicious and very simple.

To get started

• Prepare the tart shell: In a food processor, combine 1/2 cup all purpose flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour, and 3/4 t. salt. Pulse just to combine. Add 5 T. cold butter, cut into small pieces. Pulse until the mixture resembles course meal. Add 3 T. sour cream. Pulse again. Add 1 T. ice water and pulse again. The mixture should be moist and crumbly. Turn the mixture out onto a board, gather it into a ball, then flatten it into a disk. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

• While the dough is chilling, melt 2 teaspoons butter in a dutch oven or large skillet over medium heat. Quarter 4 small or 3 medium onions, and then slice them thinly crosswise. Add the onions to the butter, add a pinch of salt, stir and cover. Cook the onions until soft and pale golden, about half an hour, stirring occasionally.

• Mince 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary and set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 425º

• Flour a work surface. Roll out the dough into a 10 inch circle. Drape it over your rolling pin and settle it into the tart pan. (No need to grease the pan.) Using your fingers, shape the dough on the sides of the pan and try to make it uniformly about 1/4 inch thick. Remove any excess dough. Bake at 425 for about 20 minutes. When you take the pre-baked shell out of the oven, lower the heat to 350º.
• When the onions are soft, add the rosemary and several grinds of fresh pepper. Taste the onions, and add salt as needed. I also raised the heat a little and cooked the onions for an extra 5 or 10 minutes to cook off some of the liquid.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 eggs and 1 cup fromage blanc. (This is a non-fat french cheese. It was ridiculously expensive at my store, so I used creme fraiche instead which was absolutely delicious.) Add a little salt and pepper.
• Pour the onions into the egg-cheese mixture. Combine and put in the prepared tart shell.
• Bake at 350º for 30 minutes.

I had some leftover onion filling mixture, so I put it in buttered ramekins and baked it along with the tart.

Cost to prepare tart shell

1/2 cup all purpose flour - $.40

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour - $.50

5 T. butter - .40

3 T. sour cream - $.20

TOTAL - $1.50 (maybe less)

Cost to prepare filling

3 medium sweet onions - $1.50

fresh rosemary - free from your garden (steal some from a neighbor if you don't have any)

2 eggs - $.50

1 cup fromage blanc or creme fraiche - $4.00 (more for fromage blanc)

salt and pepper - negligible

TOTAL - $6.00

Total cost for dish - $6.85, Serves 6

A light, crisp Sauvignon Blanc would go nicely with this dish.

Dried Porcini and Fresh Mushroom Tart

January 24th, 2010

I made this dish (and a few others) for my friends, Rhonda and Eric. This one is a little time consuming because you have to make a tart shell, which is actually pretty easy, but it has to go in the freezer for 20 minutes, and then in the oven for 30 minutes before you put any of the goodies in the middle. That turned out to be fine, because I was making a lot of stuff that day and it took several hours. I don't know how long this one dish would take by itself. Probably a little over an hour. You can make the tart shell and freeze it a day ahead to speed things up.

This dish uses dried porcini mushrooms, along with fresh crimini mushrooms, so it has a nice earthy, woodsy flavor. I made a mushroom stock to give it an even more intense flavor. It turned out a little dark in color, but still very tasty.

The tart shell and the mushroom stock are 2 separate recipes in the book, so this post accounts for 3 recipes. If you don't want to take the time to make mushroom stock, you can use half & half or cream (2/3 cup.)

Here's how you do it:
Make the tart shell. In a food processor, combine 1/2 c. whole wheat pastry flour, 1/2 cup + 2 T. all purpose flour, and 1/2 t. salt. Pulse in 5 T. of cold butter, cut into little cubes. Then pulse in 3 T. sour cream and a little ice water. It will look like course crumbs. Dump it out onto a board, shape into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Start the mushroom stock. Cover 1/2 cup dried porcini mushrooms with 3 cups hot water and set aside. Heat up a little oil. Roughly chop 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 garlic clove, 2 mushrooms and all the trimmings from the mushrooms in the recipe. Saute over high heat until well browned. Reduce heat to medium, stir in 1 t. tomato paste, 1/2 cup white wine, and some marjoram or oregano. Sprinkle on 1 T. flour and some salt and pepper. Add the porcini and their soaking water and simmer for 20 minutes.

Since porcini mushrooms are expensive, I fished them out of the stock and used them in the tart, along with a few more that I soaked in hot water. I was supposed to put them in some wine and bring them to a boil, but soaking them in hot water worked out just fine. When they're soft, chop them and reserve the soaking water.

Take the dough out of the fridge, flour a board, and roll out the dough into a 10 inch circle. Lay it over a tart pan and gently settle it into the pan. It should be about 1/4 inch thick. Press it into all the crevices. Put it in the freezer for 15 minutes. (It can be frozen wrapped in foil for up to a week before baking.) Preheat the over to 425. While you're making the mushroom filling, bake the tart shell for 20 minutes. Check it periodically so it doesn't get too dark.

Heat some oil in a skillet and fry 1 large, chopped onion until it starts to turn golden. Add 1/2 pound sliced crimini mushrooms, 1/2 pound sliced portobellos, and some salt. Raise heat and cook until they start to color. Stir in 1 t. tomato paste, a few tablespoons of mushroom soaking liquid, the chopped porcinis, and more liquid as needed to keep the pan moist. Cook for about 15 minutes or until mushrooms are completely tender. Add a little parsley and marjoram (chopped) and season with pepper.

Beat one egg with 2/3 cup mushroom stock (or half and half or cream). Pour the mushrooms into the baked tart shell and then add the egg and stock mixture. Bake for 25-30 minutes until set. Cool tart for a few minutes and rub a little oil over the top to make it shiny. Garnish with chopped herbs.

This was wonderful with a rose`. Sparkling wine would be good, too.

Approximate Cost:
Tart Shell
1/2 cup pastry flour - $.50
1/2 cup + 2 T. all purpose flour - $.40
5 T. butter - $.40
3 T. sour cream - $.20
TOTAL for tart shell - $1.50
1/2 cup dried porcini - $4.50
1/2 cup dry white wine - $1.50
1 onion - $.25
1/2 pound crimini mushrooms - $2.50
1/2 pound portobello - $2.50
1 egg - $.25
oil, tomato paste (1 tsp.), herbs - negligible
TOTAL for filling - $11.50
TOTAL for 2/3 cup mushroom stock or half & half - $1.50 (?)

TOTAL for dish - $14.50 for 4 people.

This is a beautiful, earthy, tasty dish to make for company.