Frankischer Zwiebelplootz Franconian Onion Tart Recipes

ZWIEBELWäHE (SWISS ONION TART)

Steps:

• Crust:.
• Pulse flour, baking powder, and salt in a food processor to combine. Add butter and pulse until pea-sized pieces form. Add water; pulse briefly. Transfer dough to a floured work surface; form into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap; chill for 1 hour.
• Heat oven to 425°F Transfer dough to a floured work surface. Roll dough into a 13-inch circle; transfer to an 11-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom, pressing into bottom and sides. Trim excess dough; chill for 30 minutes. Prick bottom of dough with a fork; cover bottom with a sheet of parchment paper; fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until crust is set, about 20 minutes. Remove paper and b eans; bake until crust is light brown, about 15 minutes. Let cool.
• Filling:.
• Cook bacon in a 4-quart saucepan over medium heat until crisp, 7-8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to a plate. Discard bacon fat; add butter. Add onions and season with salt; reduce heat to low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 10 minutes. Uncover; cook until lightly browned, 10 minutes. Let cool.
• Whisk milk, cream, and eggs in a bowl; add reserved bacon and onions along with cheese. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Pour filling into tart; place on baking sheet.
• Place tart in oven and reduce heat to 400°F Bake until filling is golden brown and set, 45-50 minutes. Transfer tart to a wire rack to let cool completely before slicing and serving.

ONION TART

Steps:

• Blend flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Scatter butter over flour, top with lid and pulse 12 pulses to cut butter into flour to a coarse meal consistency.
• Dump butter-flour mixture into a medium stainless bowl. Make a well in the center and pour ice-cold water into the well.
• Using a flexible plastic dough scraper instead of your warm hands, bring the dough together by folding and pressing. Be firm and brisk and get the dough past its shaggy stage into a neat disk, trying to avoid using your hands or too much kneading. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.
• Meanwhile, cut the onions in half and peel them. Slice the halves with the ribs (root end to sprout end direction), not against, to create julienne slices rather than half moons.
• In a wide sauté pan over medium-low heat, melt the bacon fat and slowly sweat the onions until they are caramelized. Take all the minutes you need - 25 or so - to let them soften to translucent, then to let the water they release start to evaporate, then to allow the sugars they contain to start to brown in the pan, so that you end up with soft, sweet and evenly browned onions. This is achieved by a slow caramelization. Set onions aside to cool.
• Roll tart dough out to a 1/4-inch-thick round, and drape over a round 10-inch fluted false-bottom tart pan. Lay dough into the pan, gently pressing into the bottom, and roll the pin across the pan to cut off the excess dough. Use your fingers to press the edges into the flutes, accentuating the shape of the dough edge. Dock the bottom of the dough with the tines of a fork, weight the pastry with beans or weight and blind-bake for 25 minutes.
• In a bowl, beat the egg with the cream. Stir in the caramelized onions. Season with pepper, nutmeg and salt to taste. Stir well, and make sure the onions are all evenly coated with the custard.
• Remove tart shell from oven, and slip it onto a baking sheet. Remove weights, fill with the onion-custard mixture and distribute it evenly. Return tart to oven on the sheet, and bake for 25 minutes, or until custard has set, the tops of the onions start to achieve a deeper brown and the dough is dark golden brown at the edges.
• Remove from the ring, and allow to cool just a few minutes on the rack, so that the piping hot tart shell can kind of tighten up enough to be sliced with a sharp chef's knife. (In the first few minutes straight out of the oven, the dough is kind of soft from the heat, possibly giving you the false impression that you have a soggy tart. Let it sit on the rack just to shake off this initial soft stage and to recrisp and refirm, which it will.) Cut into wedges, and serve while hot.