French Onion Tart

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This French Onion Tart is an adaptation of the French classic Pissaladiere. The recipe comes from Leon's Book 3 - Baking & Puddings, it uses spelt flour in the pastry, but otherwise is not much different to other Pissaladiere recipes I have seen.

I like savoury tarts, especially if the main ingredient is onion, so when I saw the recipe and needed something to take along to the New Year's Eve dinner, I decided to give it a go. I doubled the amount of pastry and topped the second tart with onion and goat's cheese and both went down well. Here is the recipe as it is in the book.



French Onion Tart (serves 4 for lunch, 8 as a canape)

For the pastry:
125g spelt flour
pinch of salt
pinch of sugar
100g cold, unsalted butter, cut into cubes
4tbsp iced water

For the topping:
3tbsp olive oil
2 onions, thinly sliced
1tsp vinegar
50g black olives
6 anchovies, cut in half lengthwise
small bunch of thyme
1 free-range egg, beaten
salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste

To make the pastry combine the flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Cut in the butter with a knife (I use my hands, but if you have very warm hands using a knife is a good idea). Leave larger chunks of butter than you would think (about the size of a garlic clove) to make the pastry more flaky.

Drizzle in the ice water and bring it all together in a ball.

Wrap in clingfilm and let it rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

To make the topping heat the oil in a heavy-based sauce pan and add the sliced onion. Sautee over a medium heat, stirring occassionally. You want them to caramelise, but soft rather than crisp.

Once cooked about 10-15 minutes (it says 7-8 in the book) add the vinegar and 2tsp of water.

Sprinkle with thyme and set aside to cool.

Heat oven to 160C/Gas 3.

Pit and break up the olives a little.

On a floured surface, roll out the pastry to about 3mm thick. (I roll it out straight onto baking paper to make the next step easier.)

Transfer to a baking sheet and spread the cooled onions out, leaving a small boarder all round.

Top with olives and anchovies and season with salt and black pepper.

Brush the edges with the beaten egg and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

Enjoy (hot or cold)!