Caramelised Onion and Creamy Blue Cheese Tart

This is a beautiful and delicious tart to share with family or friends with a crisp green salad loaded with bitter greens and dressed with a sharp vinaigrette. It is a bit of a labour of love but there is an excellent way to make a cheats version of this tart.

Buy a good quality tart shell and onion jam and you can make a version that is almost as good as the one made from scratch, but in a fraction of the time.

Try it also with different cheeses, its a good way to utilise bits and bobs of cheese leftover from a cheeseboard.

Sour Cream Pastry

100g chilled butter, cubed

1 cup plain flour

1/4 cup  sour cream

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and blitz until it just starts to form a dough.

Tip the dough onto a clean lightly floured bench and press into a disc.

Wrap the disc in glad wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Roll out the pastry  and trim to fit a 22cm tart tin with a removable base.

Chill again for 20 minutes. { this can be made ahead and stored in the fridge overnight or in the freezer for several weeks}

Preheat the oven to 200c.

Line the pastry with baking paper and weights and bake blind for 10 minutes. { I use dried beans and store them once they have cooled to use for the same purpose}

Remove the weights and paper and bake a further 5 minutes.

Reset the oven to 180c.

Filling

2tbs butter

1tbs oil

3 onions, peeled, halved and thinly sliced

2 eggs

3/4 cup cream

150g creamy blue cheese

salt and pepper to season

Melt the butter with the oil in a wide based non stick pan.

Add the sliced onions and cook stirring occasionally for 20-30 minutes until the onions are a deep golden brown.

Set aside to cool

Whisk the eggs and cream together and then crumble in the cheese.

Spread the cooled onion over the base of the tart shell.

Spoon the cheese mixture over the caramelised onion and return to the oven.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until the filling is puffed and golden and a bit wobbly in the middle.

Allow to cool in the tin for 20 minutes and then very carefully remove the tart from the tin. It is important to do this while the tart is still warm but not hot. Too hot and it will break, too cold and it will stick to the base.