Onion Tart With Something Extra

Inspiration comes from different places, and when it comes to cooking and baking that can include meals eaten at other's homes or in restaurants, cookbooks, magazines, the internet...lots on the internet...and even books.

When I knew that we were going to be visiting with sisters and their families this weekend, I offered to make some bread, but heard the answer too late to do so. Falling back on something that I knew was a hit and which I could make fairly quickly, I decided to go with an onion tart made with frozen puff pastry (which I usually have in the freezer), but I wanted to change it just a bit. My inspiration for the changes was a pizza that Sweetie had earlier in the week when we had lunch with friends. The pizza had fig jam and prosciutto which seemed like a great combo. It seemed likely that that combo would complement the herbed sour cream and sweet-tart honey-wine roasted onions that are the tart's filling in the original recipe. After all, the original had bacon and prosciutto is like bacon.

The challenge was mostly how to assemble the tart...onions on the sour cream base, then jam and prosciutto or jam and prosciutto topped with onions or some other arrangement? I eventually decided to cook the ultra thin slices of prosciutto so that they were a bit crisped, then put them and the jam over the herbed sour cream mixture, topping it all with the roasted onions.

Even though the onions became a bit charred from overcooking, the tart was delicious and everyone seemed to enjoy it a lot. If you cook the onions ahead of time and put them in the freezer, you could have the tart, or a variation of it, in pretty short order since the tart only takes 20-25 minutes to cook. I only took one photo, mostly because I was feeling happy after drinking a mint julep and so forgot I needed more photos of the tart served...and then it was eaten pretty fast, too.

Fig, Prosciutto Honey-Roasted Onion TartInspired partly by February 2011 Bon Appetit magazine

1 sheet frozen puff pastry (half of 17.3-oz. package), thawed

6 paper thin slices prosciutto

1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon olive oil
2-3 large sweet yellow onions (about 1 1/2 pounds), cut into 1/4 inch thick rounds
Nonstick vegetable oil spray

3/4 cup sour cream (I used non-dairy soy sour cream)
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

2-3 tablespoons fig jam
Few sprigs fresh thyme leaves

Using lightly floured rolling pin, roll out puff pastry on lightly floured surface to 14 x 10-inch rectangle. Fold 1/2 inch of pastry edges in toward center on all sides, forming 13 x 9-inch rectangle. Transfer pastry to large rimmed baking sheet. Press firmly on pastry edges with fork to form rim. Chill crust.

Cook prosciutto in medium skillet over medium heat, one slice at a time, until shriveled and slightly crisp. Position rack in top third of oven and preheat to 375 degrees F while prosciutto is cooking. Transfer cooked prosciutto to paper towels to drain. .

Whisk honey, wine and olive oil in large bowl. Add onions; toss to coat. Coat another large rimmed baking sheet with nonstick spray. Spread onion mixture in even layer on sheet. Roast 30 minutes. Turn onions over, allowing rings to separate. Roast until onions are caramelized, turning often for even browning, 30 to 40 minutes. Watch carefully towards the end because honey burns easily. (I cooked them until the least colored ones were pale gold, which meant that some edges were charred, but mostly the mass of onions was medium gold, not darker because they will still be browning while tart cooks later.) Cool onions slightly. 

Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees F. Mix sour cream, sea salt,nutmeg and dried thyme in small bowl. Using offset spatula, spread sour cream mixture over crust almost to the folded edge. Dollop fig jam in 'little finger nail' sized blobs evenly over sour cream. Break cooked prosciutto into pieces and arrange all over the sour cream and jam. Arrange slightly cooled onions atop jam and prosciutto. Bake tart until crust is light golden brown and topping is bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes. Sprinkle with fresh thyme and serve.

Makes about 6 appetizer servings.