Shallot and Rosemary-Onion Jam Tarte Tatin

ARRGGHH!

What do you cook when you've already done the (minimal) shopping because you leave for Greece in a few days (its cool, I know your jealous, you'll have to deal with it yourself), and then you remember that you've promised to make dinner for your host mum's very important colleague... Tomorrow night?

Its got to impress. Its got to be suitably low-key chic. It can't be complicated, because you've already got the whole day booked with other things to do and can't go shopping again.

Its got to be a tart tatin....

Now, I guess the first thing that comes to mind when I think of a tarte tatin is apples. And horrible demanding pastry methods, and exact caramalisation time limits. Boo to that complicated racket and hurrah for its easy savoury counterpart.

This takes almost no-time and effort to make, looks great, and may I say, tastes pretty fucking delish. Seriously. I never knew shallots were complex in taste, but trust me brothers and sisters, those bad boys are full of surprises.

What isn't surprising is that seconds are non-negotiable.

Shallot and Onion Jam Tarte Tatin

Ingredients-

Tarte + Filling-

1 sheet of puff pastry

30ml olive oil

28 (approximately!) small shallots (I used less because mine were monster-sized)

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

2 tablespoons of butter

25ml of red wine vinegar

Onion Jam-

a glug of olive oil

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

2 tablespoon of unsalted butter, coarsely chopped

2 Spanish onions, very thinly sliced

a large sprig of rosemary, leaves detached and finely chopped

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

1/8 cup of balsamic vinegar

Method-

Onion Jam-

Heat olive oil medium sized saucepan over medium heat, then add the onions and garlic, cooking for 5 or so minutes until they begin to caramelise.

Add the butter and rosemary and continue to leave to caramelise for another 10 minutes.

Mix together the vinegar and sugar in a small bowl, then pour over the onions, stirring regularly for 3 minutes.

Set to low heat and leave to simmer for around 35 minutes or until the consistency is thick...and jammy.

Tarte + Filling-

Preheat your oven to 190°C and butter a 20cm cake tin.

Peel the shallots, cutting those too big into halves or thirds lengthwise.

Heat the oil in a deep, wide pan (is it just me or does that sound way too dirty?) over medium-high heat then add the shallots, cooking for around 8 minutes until golden on the outsides.

Add the sugar and cook for 5 minutes, then add the butter.

Cook for 5 minutes or until they are a deep caramel colour, stirring occasionally.

Reduce the heat to low, then add the vinegar and leave to soften for 20 minutes.

Pour the shallots into the bottom of the cake tin, arranging them so that they are a little bit heaped in the middle, but also so that there are no real gaps until the sides of the tin. Add the onion jam on top.

Gently place the pastry to lie over the top, then tuck the pastry around the sides of the base, to hold the mixture. Leave any remaining pastry that is hanging upwards after the tuck, because it caramelises and becomes deliciously handsome.

Bake for 15 minutes or until nice and golden on top and sturdy. Run a knife around the edges after leaving to cool for 5 minutes, then flip onto a serving plate and look with pride at your gorgeous tarte tatin!

Slow-Roasted Tomato and Fromage Blanc Tart

When I first decided I was going to make this tart, it was gong to be an authentic Italian artichoke and ricotta affair.

But due to the unfortunate combination of narrow-minded French supermarkets (its always a challenge to find things like ricotta), my slight fear of artichokes (a lot of work for small quantities of edible things) and my pea-sized attention span- the tart got a bit of a (what I like to call) make-over.

And joy to the world it did, it turned out to be delicious- just perfect to eat late on a hot summers night on a terrace overlooking the French countryside. Jealous yet? Well don't be! This is possibly on of the easiest things in the world to make, and as for the backdrop, I'm sure your creative little noggins can find a way to impress-ify your surroundings with unnecessary adjectives and (the tiniest) of white lies, like I do.

So here's to a tart...

Slow-Roasted Tomato and Fromage Blanc Tart

Ingredients-

Good splash of olive oil

550g of tomatoes

3/4 teaspoon of salt, divided

1/2 cup of fresh parsley leaves, minced

2 tablespoons of dried herb mix (optional)

3 large cloves of garlic

2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour

1 large egg

500g of fromage blanc

20 strokes of nutmeg

1 tablespoon of garlic butter (or an egg for glazing the pastry)

1/2 cup of grated parmesan

Freshly ground black pepper

1 package of prepared puff pastry (of course you can make it yourself, but it takes a very long time)

Method-

Preheat your oven to 160°C.

Find a medium sized dish suitable for baking, place your tomatoes inside, then give them a good slosh of olive oil and roll them around until coated on each surface.

Cut the garlic cloves into enough wedges to put one each in your tomatoes (I think I needed around 6 chunks). Make a cut in the top of each of the tomatoes and shove in the garlic chunks (vvvv satisfying feeling) then if you so please, sprinkle a tad of the dried herbs in little holes too.

Bake for at least an hour, or as long as possible before they start to burn.

In a pie tin, or casserole dish (or whatever else tickles your fancy for the shape of the pie), place a sheet of baking paper, and then press in the dough. With a knife, make lots of small incisions in the base to let out the hot air when baking. Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the pastry is a light golden colour.

Grab a large mixing bowl, and add 1 egg, the fromage blanc, the nutmeg, the parmesan, and salt and pepper to taste. Add the tomatoes and the flour (only if you think it needs thickening) then give it a good stir and pour into the pastry. Melt the garlic butter (or lightly whisk an egg) and coat the pastry you can see with the butter (or obviously the egg).

Increase the oven temperature to 180°C bake for 40 minutes or so or until the middle is set (you can test this my giving the pan a bit of a shake and seeing if the middle still wobbles).