Caramelised onion, tomato and prosciutto tart

This week seems to be the week of recipes inspired by other blogs. After trying a new recipe for the guilt free banana bread, I felt like going back to an old favourite for dinner Sunday night. I’ve also been asked by a friend to put this one up. Given it is a favourite of mine, I didn’t mind fulfilling the request.

I came across this recipe a year ago at Delicieux, an Australian vegetarian blog. Although not vegetarian myself, I do like cooking vegetarian dishes (I know that hasn’t been reflected in my blog yet…but I’ll get there) and I often find myself ordering a vegetarian dish at restaurants. I find more and more these days that the vegetarian options just seem so much more creative and interesting when I read them on the menu. For this dish I’ve added prosciutto and goats cheese resulting in a non-vegetarian version, but it’s just as nice without the prosciutto.

I  find I always have extra of the marinated tomatoes mix left whenever I make this. Rather than use less tomatoes, I like to add a couple of tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil to the remaining tomatoes and their juices, and use this as the dressing (with the tomatoes) for the salad greens. I usually get enough for six tarts from 4 large onions (although I used one less onion this time and still made the 6 tarts, so there wasn’t as much onion as usual – hence the gaps in the picture). You could also make these into smaller squares for a nice entrée or canapé.

Caramelised onion, tomato and prosciutto tart

Makes 4-6 tarts

Ingredients

• 2-3 sheets ready rolled frozen puff pastry – partially thawed
• 3-4 large onions – peeled and thinly sliced (you can use a food processor for this)
• 4 large tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons chopped basil
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 4-6 thin slices of prosciutto
• Goats cheese to crumble on top
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 egg – beaten
• Salt and pepper
• Salad leaves, balsamic vinegar and olive oil

Method

1. Line 2 baking trays & preheat oven to 190C fan forced (210C).
2. Combine sliced tomatoes, garlic, basil, salt and pepper in a bowl. Cover and leave to marinate.
3. Heat oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Once hot, add onions, season and reduce heat to low. Cook for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until caramelised and soft. Remove from pan and leave to cool.
4. Each sheet of pastry will make two rectangular tarts. Cut the pastry sheet in half and then cut 1-2cm border around each half (I cut all the way lengthways first, then across the top and bottom). Place the trimmed pieces on top of the edges of the pastry to form a border (the long pieces will need to be folded over at the corners). Repeat with remaining pastry. Place on tray.
5. Prick the centre of each tart gently with a fork several times, being careful not to go all the way through. Brush the border with the egg. Bake in the oven for 5-10 minutes until lightly golden and starting to puff up.
6. Remove and gently press the centre down with the back of as spoon. Divide the onion evenly between the tarts and spread over the centre. Top with tomato slices (being careful to leave the juices in the bowl) and then the prosciutto.
7. Return to the oven and bake for another 8-10 minutes until the pastry is golden and cooked.
8. Top with crumbled goats cheese and serve with salad. To make the salad, add 2 tablespoons each of balsamic vinegar and olive oil to the remaining tomato marinade mix. Add salad greens, toss and serve.

Adapted from Caramelised onion, tomato and basil tart @ www.ledelicieux.com