Goat’s Cheese and Caramelised Onion is one of those classic combinations that is used everywhere. There’s dozens and dozens of recipes for tarts using these flavours and so I had to add my own take into the mix. While I can’t promise that my recipe does anything new and groundbreaking, what I can promise is that you is delicious tart with the wonderfully sweet, caramelised onions with the sharp tang of the Goats Cheese, and both flavours accentuated by the rosemary. It takes a bit of time due to slow-cooking the onions, but the method is very simple, and what it does mean is that you use all of the natural sugars from the onions to get a wonderful, naturally sweet tart that is delicious both hot or cold any time of the day.
Goats Cheese, Red Onion & Rosemary Tart
Print RecipeIngredients
- 500g Red Onion
- 120g Goat's Cheese Log
- 3 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
- 2 Sprigs of Fresh Rosemary
- 300g Shortcrust Pastry
- 1½ tsp Sea Salt
- 1 tsp Cracked Black Pepper
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- 50g Butter
Instructions
Pre-heat an oven to 190°C (180°C Fan)/375°F/Gas Mark 5.
You will need a 9" (23cm) round tart pan with a loose bottom. Lightly dust a work surface with plain flour, and roll out the pastry to 1 - 2cm larger that than tart pan at about a half an inch thickness.
Line the tart pan with the pastry, making sure that the pastry is neat and worked into all of the edges, and leave the excess pastry to drape over the edges of the pan. Poke some holes into the base of the pastry using a fork to prevent the base cooking unevenly.
Take some baking paper and gently lay the paper over the pastry - I find crumpling the baking paper into a ball first works best - and then fill the lined tart case with baking beans. If you don't own baking beans, then dried beans or lentils will work just as well. Make sure that every space is filled.
Place the tart into the oven and blind bake for 15 minutes. After this time, remove from the oven and, carefully, remove the baking paper and baking beans and place bake into the oven to bake for a further 5 minutes to make the base golden and crispy. After these 5 minutes, remove from the oven, carefully trim off the excess pastry with a knife and leave to cool in the pan until it's needed later.
Halve and finely slice the red onions.
Now, place a large saucepan over a medium heat and add the olive oil and butter and heat until the butter is melted and starts to bubble.
Add all of the onions and stir into the oil and butter, making sure everything is coated, and place the lid on the pan. Turn the heat down to it's lowest setting and leave to soften for one hour.
After an hour the onions should be soft and translucent. Remove the lid and turn the heat up to medium-high.
Remove the rosemary leaves from the stalks and finely chop. Add these to the onions along with the salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar and stir into the onions. Keep cooking and stirring the onions until all of the excess liquid has gone from the onions and they become jammy and sticky. You don't want the onions to burn, however, as otherwise they will become bitter.
Remove the onions from the heat and place to one side to cool for 10 to 15 minutes.
Once the onions have cooled, add them evenly to the tart case.
Evenly slice the goats cheese and place evenly over the top of onions. You'll want to use a goat's cheese log, or soft goat's cheese will also work, but not the hard goat's cheese.
Put into the oven and bake on 200°C (190°C Fan)/390°F/Gas Mark 6 for 15 minutes until the cheese is golden and bubbly.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly before gently removing from the ring. Serve hot, or save for later and enjoy cold.
