Onion tart with bacon & cheese

I couldn’t resist making this onion tart with bacon & cheese when Leopards Leap sent me the ingredients the other day. I absolutely love their Culinaria Chenin and I worked with them on a project last year where I  made a very delicious Osso Bucco paired with the Grand Vin. This is a rich and indulgent tart with cheese in the pastry and in the filling and it stands up perfectly to this robust wine.

The recipe they sent me was double to quantitates but that would make at least 2 large tarts. I halved it to and filled a 23cm tart for this. It made a little extra so you could go to a 25cm tart easily. I followed their recommendation to bake the tart with raw pastry and then placing it on the bottom shelf to help prevent a soggy bottom. I however still prefer to blind bake pastry for any tart or quiche so you could follow the method I used for this delicious cheese and onion tart if you do too.

The 1 kgs of onions seem overwhelming, but they break down when cooked gently for about half an hour to a meltingly soft and utterly delicious consistency. I used my food processor to slice them thinly because cutting that number of onions is going to cause some tears.

While we are holed up at home for the next while, I’m totally jumping onto the #isolationbaking bandwagon so you will see what I get up to on my Instagram stories. I hope you all stay safe out there as we live through such a life and world-changing event.

Recipe – serves 8

Onion tart with bacon & cheese

Print Recipe

Prep Time:40 minutes mins

Cook Time:45 minutes mins

Ingredients

Pastry

• 170 g flour
• 90 g salted butter chilled
• 1 large free-range egg whole
• 60 g Parmesan cheese finely grated
• 90 ml cold water

Onion mix

• 1 kg onion peeled and finely sliced using a food processor or mandolin in possible
• Olive oil to sauté
• 2 bay-leaves
• Salt & pepper

Egg filling

• 125 ml / ½ cup milk
• 125 ml / ½ cup cream
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 100 g Emmental cheese
• 90 g bacon finely diced
• 1 tsp finely chopped fresh dill or ½ tsp dried dill
• Finely chopped chives to garnish optional

Instructions

Pastry

• Add the flour, butter, eggs and water to the bowl of a food processor and briefly pulse until the dough just comes together. Tip this out onto a floured surface and bring together. Wrap in cling and allow it to rest in the fridge for about an hour. Roll the pastry out to and line a 23 cm tart mould with pastry and then place it back into the fridge. You will have a little extra pastry leftover. Cut this into straws to bake with the tart.

Onion mix

• Fry the onions over a gentle heat until they take on a little colour and are softened along with the bay leaves. This will take about 25 – 30 minutes. Season to taste.

Egg filling

• Mix all the ingredients together apart from the bacon and cheese and set aside.
• Place the onions and bacon inside the chilled prepared tart mould and pour over the egg mixture. Scatter over the grated cheese.
• Bake in an oven that has been preheated to 190 °C for 45 minutes.

Notes

• NOTE: Place the tart on the bottom shelf of the oven and use the top and bottom elements (not a fan). This helps to ensure that the base of the pastry cooks through. Alternatively, follow this method to blind bake the pastry before.

Servings: 1 lart tart

Find me on Instagram