A Different Take On Onion Tart

For the tea party last week I baked a version of my favorite onion tart. Usually I use puff pastry as the base, but the puff pastry I had in the freezer turned out to be spoiled, so I had to improvise.

Fortunately...since time was an issue...I had some already made pie crust dough. The tart shell was a long, thin, rectangle and the dough was a circle, but I just sliced off a little of the side dough and added it to the ends. Because I wanted the sides to be thicker than a single layer of crust, I also added an extra layer of the dough to the sides, then pressed the dough into the indents in the sides, rolled a rolling pin over the tart pan top to cut off the dough, and put the whole thing in the freezer for 20 minutes to firm up. Then I pricked the dough lightly all over and baked it briefly. No need to fully bake it since it would bake the rest of the way when the tart was filled.

The filling stayed the same as the previous recipe except that I used drained plain yogurt for the base instead of creme fraiche. Don't use Greek yogurt...it's difficult to drain. Don't use vanilla yogurt either...too much sugar and this is a savory tart. Do use a mellow honey, a dry white wine and freshly grated nutmeg.

It turned out really well. The crust sides were strong enough to hold up to cutting into portions and the filling was delicious. It made such a nice part of our savories for our Afternoon Tea.

Honey-Roasted Onion Tartbased on February 2011 Bon Appetit magazine recipe

1 single pie crust (I used Pillsbury ReadyCrust)

3 slices bacon, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces

1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup dry white wine
2-3 large sweet yellow onions (about 1 1/2 pounds), cut into 1/4 inch thick rounds
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1/2 cup drained plain yogurt (I used Russian low fat yogurt, drained briefly in a fine mesh strainer)
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
Few sprigs fresh thyme leaves

Using lightly floured rolling pin, roll out pastry on lightly flour surface. Cut sides and piece at either end to make a  rectangle to fit your tart pan, plus extra for the sides.I used a X by X-inch tart pan with removable bottom. You could also use an 8-inch round tart pan and roll the pie crust dough to fit, with enough to fold the dough back down the sides all around. Press doubled sides against the tart pan sides firmly. Roll a rolling pin over the top edges of the tart to trim off excess dough. Chill crust in freezer at least 20 minutes.

Cook bacon in small skillet over medium heat until brown and crisp. Position rack in top third of oven and preheat to 375 degrees F while bacon is cooking. Transfer crisp bacon to paper towels to drain. Reserve 1 tablespoon bacon drippings from skillet.

Whisk honey, wine and reserved 1 tablespoon bacon drippings 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 45 minutes. (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. (At this point, and without leaving the oven on, you can refrigerate the onion mixture, then bring it back to room temperature the next day for the baking part if you prefer to do it in two parts.)

Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees F. Remove tart pan from freezer and use a fork to lightly prick the crust all over. Bake for 8 minutes, then remove from oven and cool ten minutes.

Mix drained yogurt, sea salt,nutmeg and dried thyme in small bowl. Using offset spatula, spread yogurt mixture mixture over crust  to the edge. Arrange onions atop yogurt layer. Sprinkle with bacon. Bake tart until crust is light golden brown and topping is bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes. Check at 15 minutes to make sure that crust isn't over browning. If it is, put strips of aluminum foil over the crust sides to shield until topping is done. Onions will have some very dark brown strands. Sprinkle with fresh thyme and serve.

Makes about 6 appetizer servings.