Onion and blue cheese tart

This has become our picnic tart of choice. The soft onions collapse into the rich, gooey blue cheese to give a wonderful savoury starter. It belongs in that small space between setting up and the entire extended family and friends converging for the main meal.

In our family, the kids also like blue cheese, so there is real competition for this one.

This one is going with me to the Novice Gardener’s Friday Fiesta, co-hosted this week by the Novice Gardener with Elaine@Foodbod and Stacey@10 Legs in the Kitchen. 

A tart of caramelised onions over a bed of gooey blue cheese: delicious!

• Servings: 8-10
• Time: 2 hours
• Difficulty: moderate
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Ingredients

• 5 or 6 onions, washed, peeled and sliced
• a generous pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
• 1 cup of apple juice
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• a few sprigs of fresh thyme
• shortcrust pastry (already baked)
• 125-250 grams of blue cheese

Directions

1. Prepare the onion filling: Saute the onions with the salt in a large frying pan over a low heat for about 10 to 15 minutes. You want the onions to be soft and golden, with no suggestion of barbecues or burning.
2. Add the balsamic vinegar, apple juice and sugar. Cook over a low heat until the liquid has evaporated and the onions are browned and caramelised.  Stir them so they don’t stick to the bottom of the pan. This step can take up to 45 minutes.
3. Strip the leaves off the thyme and stir them in, then cook for just another couple of minutes.
4. Take the onion mixture off the heat and let it cool down.
5. Assemble the tart: Break the blue cheese into small pieces and scatter them across the baked pastry base. Cover this with the  caramelised onions so they fill the tart up.
6. Bake the tart in a 180 degrees C (350F) oven for about 15 minutes. Let it cool, and serve with some sprigs of fresh thyme.

Notes

You can buy ready-made shortcrust pastry, or you can make your own and then bake it before you pile all the filling in and bake it again. I use an old family shortcrust recipe, which is coming as soon as I get around to baking it again and remembering to take the photos!

A tart of caramelised onions over a bed of gooey blue cheese: delicious!