French onion & blue cheese tart
Given how often we need onions to start a recipe , let ’ s not forget or discount how important they really are . So in this tart I ’ ve made them the star of the show , sweet and lightly scented , in pride of place on a layer of light , puffy pastry and delicious crumbled blue cheese .
Nadiya Hussain
SERVES 8 2 tbsp butter 2 large lemon thyme sprigs , leaves picked 1 garlic clove , grated 5 onions , thinly sliced ( you will need about 1kg ) 2 tsp caster sugar 1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry 1 egg , lightly beaten 150g blue cheese small handful of chopped chives , to serve
Credit : Taken from Nadiya Bakes by Nadiya Hussain ( Michael Joseph , £ 22 ). Photos by Chris Terry .
1 Melt the butter in a large non-stick frying pan , then add the lemon thyme leaves , garlic and onions . Mix everything together . Now add the sugar , 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper and 1 tsp salt , then mix . Leave to cook on a medium heat for 30 mins , stirring occasionally , until you have onions that look like the kind you would only see in a burger ! 2 Meanwhile , start on the pastry . Heat the oven to 200C / 180C fan / gas 6 . Line a baking tray with some baking parchment ( or use the paper the pastry comes in ) and roll out the pastry onto the tray . 3 Using a knife , score a smaller rectangle 1cm inside the pastry rectangle , making sure not to cut all the way through . Pierce the inner rectangle with a fork all over to allow the steam to escape when it bakes . Brush the edges with the egg and bake for 20 mins until golden all over . Using the back of a spoon , push down all the puffed-up pastry of the inner rectangle , leaving you a neat border . 4 Crumble the blue cheese all over the inner rectangle of the pastry . Add the onions and scatter them all over until you have an even layer . Bake for 15 mins , then cool for 10 mins before eating , sprinkled with the chives .
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