Goat Cheese Tart with Caramelized Onions

Back to this month's apparent tart theme...

Here is a recipe I learned about 4 years ago. It is from the Balthazar restaurant cookbook, written by Keith McNally et al.

It works well as an appetizer or as a main course to an informal and light meal.

The cookbook recommend serving it alongside a salad of simply dressed cherry tomatoes and a dollop of olive tapenade, to "add some kick."

The recipe can make six individual (4-inch) tarts, or one large 10-inch tart. I made the large tart, and served it along with a baby bok choy and tomato salad.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

For the crust:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 stick plus 2 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces

2 extra-large egg yolks

3 tablespoons ice-cold water

In a food processor, pulse the flour, salt and chilled butter until it looks like coarse meal.

Then, with the machine running, add the egg yolks and ice water.

Continue to process for about 20 seconds to form a ball of dough.

Shape the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or overnight.

For the caramelized onions:

1/4 cup olive oil

3 large yellow onions, halved through the stem end and thinly sliced into 1/8-inch half-moons

1 sprig of thyme

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Over a low flame, heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the onions, thyme, bay leaf, and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Stir occasionally, cooking the onions until soft and golden, reducing their volume by nearly half. This can take up to 1 hour. Remove from the pan, drain any excess oil, and discard the herbs.

Meanwhile, roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness. Place the dough into the tart pan(s), flute the edges, trimming any excess with a sharp knife, and prick the dough several times with the tines of a fork.

Line the dough with aluminum foil and weigh down with rice, beans, or pie weights.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Remove the foil and bake a few minutes more to brown the crust.

Allow to cool outside of the oven while preparing the filling.

For the filling:

8 ounces fresh goat cheese at room temperature

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

2 extra-large eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Mix the cheese, eggs and seasonings in a food processor until smooth.

To assemble the tart, first line the crust with the caramelized onions.

Next pour the cheese mixture into the pan.

Using a wide pastry brush, gently brush the yolk of one extra-large egg over the top of the tart.

Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes, until set. Allow to cool for 15 minutes and serve warm.