Fried onions are one my favourite savoury flavours. This tart is brilliant hot or cold and many of the component’s can be made in advance and then assembled and baked at the last minute if you’re cooking for friends so you have more time to chat. This tastes great and is a pretty cost effective dish if you want to make lunch for friends for example.

I used ready made pastry to save time (it was reduced in the supermarket, don’t judge sometimes its fine to take short cuts). The onions need to cook long and slow before going into the tart and this can be done a day or two in advance and stored in the fridge until you’re ready to bake it.

I used Gruyere cheese because I felt like being fancy, but a well flavoured cheese like cheddar or even parmesan would also work well.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

300 Grams Ready made short crust pastry

1 Kg Onions (finely sliced). This will look like a lot, but it will cook down.

2 Tbsp Oil (Or you can use half butter half oil if you prefer)

2 Eggs

50 Grams Gruyere (finely grated)

300 ml Double Cream

Flour for rolling out the pastry

Salt and pepper

Method

1. Add the oil to a large frying pan to heat before adding the onions. Cook over a medium heat for 45 mins stirring occasionally to make sure they don’t burn. Remove from the heat and allow to cool
2. Preheat your oven to 180 degree (Celsius).
3. I used a 12in loose bottom flan tin, make sure that this is well greased so that the flan will come out if the tin easily
4. Dust a counter with lightly with flour and roll out the pastry in a circle fit big enough to fit the flan tin. Make sure the pastry is pressed well into the edges of the tin. Lay baking parchment on top of the pastry and pour on baking baking beans (I use old rice/dried beans that I keep in a jar, its cheaper than buying the fancy clay versions). Bake for blind 15 minutes, before removing from the oven. Carefully remove the baking parchment so you don’t drop the baking beans (or what ever you’re using) into the pastry
5. In a large bowl beat the eggs, cream, and cheese together in a bowl (add salt and member if you think it needs it). I have French friend who worked as a pastry chef, and her top tip is to put the eggs through a seive to ensure that the mix will be smooth and you have any spots of egg white, but this isn’t essential. Stir in the fried onions and mix well before spooning into the pastry case
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the tart is golden brown and lightly set