Onion Tart
Submitted by dutch
French onion tart with a handmade butter pastry, slow-cooked onions, bacon, and a silky cream custard. Baked low and slow for a rich, golden filling.
YIELD
8 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
60 minREADY
80 minThis is a proper French onion tart, closer to an Alsatian Zwiebelkuchen than a quick quiche. The filling is built on onions cooked gently in butter with thin-cut bacon until they go completely soft and sweet, then suspended in a cream-and-egg custard spiked with nutmeg.
The pastry is made by hand using the French fraisage technique. You work butter and egg into flour with your fingertips, then smear the dough across the board with the heel of your hand until it’s smooth and pliable. Chilling it firms everything back up so it rolls out clean and bakes crisp.
Blind baking the shell first is key. Weigh it down with dried beans or pie weights so the base cooks flat and firm before the wet filling goes in. That hour of low, slow baking afterwards lets the custard set gently without puffing or cracking.
Shake the pan to check doneness. The filling should barely wobble, with no liquid pooling in the center. Serve it warm, not hot, so the custard has time to firm up into clean, silky slices.
Chef Tips
- Slice onions into thin, even rings. Uneven pieces cook at different rates and you’ll end up with some burnt, some raw.
- Cut the bacon as thin as possible. It should nearly dissolve into the filling, adding smoky flavor without chunky bites.
- Don’t rush the blind bake. Remove the foil and weights once the edges turn golden, then bake until the base looks dry but not browned.
- Keep the oven steady and low. If the temperature creeps up, the custard will puff and crack instead of setting smooth.
Variations
- Caramelized onion and gruyere: Cook the onions longer until deeply caramelized and fold in grated gruyere before pouring into the shell.
- Leek tart: Replace half the onions with sliced leeks for a milder, more delicate flavor.
Ingredients
Directions
Pastry: Make the flour into a ‘well’ on the pastry board.
Beat the egg and add it, with the butter, salt and a little of the water, to the centre of the well.
Then work the ingredients into the flour with your fingerertips, incorporating more water little by little; whether you have to use all the water or not depends on the quality of the flour.
Press all the dough together into a ball.
Work it thoroughly with the heel of your hand, gathering it up with pastry scraper as you do so until it is soft and pliable.
Leave it in the refrigerator to firm up again before you roll it out.
Filling: Peel the onions.
Cut them into fine rings and weigh out 300 grams.
Cook the bacon strips (which need to be VERY finely cut) in the butter.
Let them take on a golden colour, then add the sliced onions and leave them to cook gently until they are tender.
In a bowl beat together the cream, milk and eggs, adding salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.
When the onions are cooked, add them to the mixture in the bowl and add the chopped parsley.
Preparation: Roll out the dough 2mm thick and use it to line a buttered tart tin 26 cm in diameter and at least 3cm deep.
Cut a disc of aluminium foil of the same diameter as the tin and place it on the pastry.
Weight it down with a handful of beans or crusts.
Pre-heat the oven to 300℉ (150℃) (150C) and cook the pastry ‘blind’ for half an hour.
Watch the coulouring of the edge and as soon as it starts to turn golden remove the aluminium foil and beans or crusts.
Cook the pastry shell until the base is baked but not coloured.
Fill the shell with the onion mixture.
Put the tart back into the oven.
Check that the temperature is still 300 F and keep the oven at or just below this temperature for about 1 hour.
Towards the end you could reduce the heat a little, as the tart needs TO COOK VERY SLOWLY.
The tart is ready if, when you shake it, the filling appears to be quite firm with no hint of a whole in the centre.
Serve warm, in small slices.
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