Love a long recipe title, no? So I saw a picture of Bon Appetit’s onion tart floating around and eyeballing it, felt inspired to make my own. I didn’t actually read their recipe, so if you’ve made it, tell me if this is similar! I always have onions on hand, but I had some extra farmer’s cheese from making pierogi for Easter and thought, hey, might as well try them in a tart – when in quarantine, you gotta use what you’ve got, amirite?!
I think you have to have caramelized onions on an onion tart – or just like on everything always? Caramelized onions are one of my favorite things to make and to be honest, used as a condiment on our house. Put that shit on everything, ya know?
Making caramelized onions is so simple, you just need a little patience and you have to watch them a bit until they get really soft. To make them, you just thinly slice up a few onions (it’s like spinach or mushrooms, they cook down so much and you’ll always want more!), and cook them up with some butter and a pinch of salt.
I think the key to a great batch of caramelized onions is to really watch them at the beginning and make sure the pan doesn’t get too try. If they start sticking you’ll get some burned or fried onions instead of the caramelization we’re going for.
When you’re making caramlized onions you have to be patient for them to get past that fried onion state and get really rich brown. And then once you have made them you can try this tart recipe, or my mini quiches or my french onion soup that legit tastes like the real stuff from Paris!
Also, if you want to lighten up the caramelized onions, you can use beef broth instead of butter. They’ll be a little less rich but you’ll still get the sweetness. I’ve actually made them in beef broth and then just before taking them out of the pan, I finish them with a teaspoon of butter for a little of that richness!
So anyway, I caramelized some yellow onion and a shallot and topped some whipped farmer’s cheese with them. Then I sliced up some scallions because I just LOVE scallions and because I saw that bonappetit tart and thought it was pretty. Baked it all up, garnished with lemon zest and a bit of parsley and we ate this tart with a salad for lunch!
Caramelized Onion and Scallion Tart with Farmer’s Cheese
Ingredients
Caramelized Onions
- 2 tbsp butter – see notes or more, to keep moisture in the pan
- 1 large shallot, sliced
- 1 medium yellow onion, sliced
- 1 small red onion, sliced
Tart
- 1 prepared pie crust 1 of 2 from a boxed prepared pie crust
- 7.5 oz farmers cheese or 1c ricotta
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp sour cream
- salt, pepper to taste
- 4-5 scallions, sliced
- 1 egg, whisked
- lemon zest, parsley, for garnish optional
Instructions
- Caramelize onions: Melt 1 tbsp butter in pan and add sliced onions. Cook until softened. Add 1 tbsp of butter when the pan starts to dry. As pan gets dry, add butter as needed. Alternatively, you can work on the onions with broth, taking care to not add so much that the pan becomes soupy.
You can make the onions a few days ahead, too! (Or make a huge batch to be used on dishes throughout the week as I do!) - Once onions are finished, preheat the oven to 350.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment and placed one prepared pie crust on the paper.
- In a separate bowl or stand mixer with the whisk attachment, combine farmers cheese, garlic, sour cream and salt and pepper. Whisk together until well combined.
- To assemble, place farmer’s cheese on the pie crust, spreading evenly but leaving approximately 1 inch from the edge of the pie crust.
- Top the farmers cheese mixture with caramelized onions in an even layer. Add sliced scallion, carefully pressing into the tart.
- Fold the pie crust edges over to seal in the cheese and onions. If the crust cracks on the edges from folding, just press back together so the farmer’s cheese does not leak out.
- Brush the pie crust with the whisked egg.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until edges are golden brown and the scallions crisp up.
- Garnish with lemon zest and parsley if desired, allow to cool for 10 minutes, slice and enjoy!
