Goat Cheese and Onion Tart

This Goat Cheese and Onion Tart recipe makes me think of fancy appetizers at a dinner party. I made it a solo dinner one night - either way it's a winner and a recipe that I WILL be repeating again - maybe using the same ingredients...but probably not.

Now that I have freezer space I've stocked up on a few more staples that I always wanted to have on hand. One of those being puff pastry! I once read a message board where cooks talked about what one thing they would rather buy than make from scratch. The number one answer was puff pastry! Now I have at least one box in my freezer at all times, the only trick is that you have to sort of plan when you are going to use it since the only way to thaw it is by letting it sit on the counter for an hour.

I'm trying to remember how I first came to find this recipe, it's from Ina, who I think is a genius...so I probably watched one of her cooking shows where she made this and then I couldn't get the recipe out of my head and then HAD to make it one night. The ingredients are fairly simple, I did make a special trip to the grocery store for goat cheese. Jim and I both love goat cheese so as soon as I pay $4 for a little 2 ounce container it's gone before I know it.

Here is what you need for Ina's Tomato and Goat Cheese Tart. I only used one sheet of puff pastry and made two tarts, Ina's recipe makes 4 tarts.

1 package (17.3 ounces/2 sheets) puff pastry, defrosted
Good olive oil
4 cups thinly sliced yellow onions (2 large onions)
3 large garlic cloves, cut into thin slivers
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons dry white wine
2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme leaves
4 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan, plus 2 ounces shaved with a vegetable peeler
4 ounces garlic-and-herb goat cheese (recommended: Montrachet)
1 large tomato, cut into 4 (1/4-inch-thick) slices
3 tablespoons julienned basil leaves

Once the pastry was defrosted, I first cleaned my counter and then sprinkled it with some flour.

Ina says to roll out the puff pastry to a 11 x 11 inch square. I'm not one to follow directions exactly so I rolled it big enough to get two five inch rounds cut out of it. And I knew I would have to move the dough once it was cut, so it couldn't be so thin that it stretched or tore - I left mine thin, but not paper thin.

Just use what you have in your kitchen. Here I have two of my every day bowls from Pier 1 that I flipped upside down and used as guides to cut circles in the pastry. And in case you were wondering, I delicately folded up the unused dough, wrapped in saran wrap and put back in the freezer. I have lots of ideas on what to do with the scraps. I could brush them with butter, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and bake sweet chips! I could spray with Pam, sprinkle with parmesan and bake to make a yummy dipper for hummus. And for those who think hummus is gross, it's only bean dip!

I love this tidbit from Ina! I used a cup that was about two inches smaller in diameter to make an indention in the pastry. You don't want it cut all the way through, just score the round pastry.

Now, prick the inside of the inner circle with the tines of a fork. This will ensure the outside "puffs" and the inside stays nice and flat.

Place the pastry circles on sheet pans lined with parchment paper and refrigerate until ready to use.

Now here is a cool tidbit from Mandy! When grapes go on special, buy some for your freezer. My mother used to call these "God's Popsicles" when I was growing up. Next time you are drinking wine that may not be cold enough or a white wine you want to STAY cold, drop a few grapes in your glass.

These frozen grapes act like ice without diluting the vino!

Back to the tart. I really like caramelized onions because the low and slow cooking process brings out all the natural sugars in the onion and they become sweet and sticky with a beautiful brown color. I wanted to slice these onions pretty thin, so I used a mandolin. I found this one at Sur la Table for less than $20 and it folds flat for kitchens with limited storage like mine. I fell in love with the lime green - it matches my kitchen decor. You could also slice these onions by hand, it may just be tricky to get them this thin, but even thicker slices of onion will caramelize well.

I used my cast iron skillet to cook the onions with a tablespoon of olive oil.

Low and slow is key here. It should take 15-20 minutes to get them right, so if the heat is too high then the onions will simply burn, so keep the heat on medium low.

There is the garlic! I added about one minced clove to the onions when they were half way done. I didn't want the garlic to brown and get hard and bitter, but slowly heat up with the onions.

Just because I felt like it, I added a pinch of Italian seasoning.

And a pinch of salt and pepper too - for good measure.

When the onions were about done, I added a tablespoon of white wine and then scrapped up the brown bits from the bottom of the skillet. Heat off, onions are done.

To the puff pastry, I built the tart by starting with some Parmesan shavings on the bottom - keeping all ingredients inside my scored inner circle.

Next, add a heap of caramelized onions.

Now for the goat cheese. Just a few pinches here and there.

Instead of slicing a whole tomato, I used a can of mexican style diced tomatoes and strained a spoonful from the can.

Delicately place that on top of the savory mound.

Finish it all off with more Parmesan cheese.

Bake at 425 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown.

I thought the goat cheese would really make this tart something special, but the onions and the parmesan really stole the show here. The seasoning added to the onions made them extra yummy. I will make this again, but probably not make a special trip to the store for any ingredients, but simply use the method Ina did and incorporate ingredients I have on hand.

I would like to try making a tart with pulled pork and cheddar cheese or roasted chicken and kalamata olives topped with a sprinkle of parmesan. What about the sweet tarts? You could layer pears with blue cheese and finish it off with a drizzle of honey and walnuts. Is your mouth watering yet?

Barefoot Bloggers: Coq Au Vin

This month is flying by. Well this year has literally flown by hasn’t it? Jim moved to Austin at the beginning of 08 and I can hardly believe that an entire year has gone by – I guess time flies when you are having fun.

I’ve really enjoyed cooking Ina Garten's recipes along with the other Barefoot Bloggers, and this month’s recipe is no different. Big thanks to Bethany of this little piggy went to market, who chose Coq Au Vin. I’m a little late to post this, but I couldn’t pass up the chance to try out my culinary skills with a classic French recipe. Coq Au Vin translates in French as “rooster in wine” but in Ina’s recipe we cook a full chicken cut into pieces. If you’ve read any of my previous chicken posts then you know that I just CANNOT bring myself to cut up a chicken nor eat chicken on the bone. So in my version of Coq Au Vin I use boneless skinless chicken breasts.


Coq au Vin
Recipe from Ina Garten
4 ounces good bacon or pancetta, diced
1 (3 to 4-pound) chicken, cut in 8ths (I used a couple boneless skinless chicken breast)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound carrots, cut diagonally in 1-inch pieces (Okay, I had to get creative here)
1 yellow onion, sliced
1 shallot, minced (added)
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1/4 cup Cognac or good brandy
1/2 bottle (375 ml) good dry red wine such as Burgundy
1 cup good chicken stock, preferably homemade (not homemade)
10 fresh thyme sprigs
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, divided
1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 pound frozen small whole onions (omitted)
1/2 pound cremini mushrooms, stems removed and thickly sliced (omitted)

Here are my three frozen chicken breast that I zap in the microwave to defrost.

Pat dry with a paper towel.

The carrots. I wanted a 1/2 pound of carrots or at least a good handful and I didn't have as many in the fridge as I thought I did. So this is what I did... I pulled out a frozen bag of mixed vegetables from the freezer and defrosted in a colander. Then picked out the carrot pieces. You gotta do whatcha gotta do.

So here is my onion sliced, bacon diced, carrots, minced shallot (because I had one on hand and wanted to use it up) and sprigs of fresh thyme.

I'm using my trusty RR dutch oven again. Add some olive oil and turn the heat up to medium. Add bacon and cook for about 8 minutes until lightly browned.

Remove bacon with a slotted spoon to a plate and set aside. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and add to the dutch oven in batches to brown the chicken pieces, about five minutes and turning to brown evenly.

This is an important step. If you sear the chicken really good then when you add it back in later with the wine it won't turn purple...that seemed to be a problem for some other barefoot bloggers. It doesn't bother me to much.

Remove the chicken and set with the bacon on the side. To the same dirty dutch oven we add the carrots, onions, 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper to the pan and cook over medium heat for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally until the onions are lightly browned.

I'm going to interrupt the recipe for a quick moment to say that my Coq Au Vin would have been perfect had I not added the 2 teaspoons of salt in this step. Mine turned out overly salty and Jim found it too salty for him to eat. Next time I would just add pepper because we season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper in step one.

Here is what my vegetables boiled down to after 12 minutes.

Now add the garlic and I added in my shallot here too. Cook for one more minute, stirring to incorporate.

Here is what mine looks like now.

Add the Brandy, stir it up with your spoon to loosen all the brown pieces off the bottom.

Put your chicken and bacon back into the pot.

Add wine. I'm using Tempranillo from Argentina because I enjoy drinking this wine and we should always cook with wine we enjoy to drink. Repeat it with me people!

Pour in half a bottle here...and enjoy the other half WITH your meal.

Add the chicken stock. (not homemade, but when I get a chest freezer for the garage I will probably give this a shot and keep homemade frozen chicken stock on hand.)

The last thing to add are the fresh sprigs of thyme. I just lay them right on top.

Cover the pot with a tight fitting lid and place in the oven for 30-40 minutes, until the chicken is just not pink.

Here is what my chicken looked like after 40 minutes. Of course the outside was pink/purple because of the wine but the inside was cooked through and this was a VERY moist piece of chicken we have here!

Here are the last steps from Ina's recipe that I omitted.

Mash 1 tablespoon of butter and the flour together and stir into the stew. Add the frozen onions. In a medium saute pan, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and cook the mushrooms over medium-low heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until browned. Add to the stew.

INSTEAD. I removed all the chicken from the pot and added a tablespoon (estimated) of flour to the pot to help thicken the sauce up. I turned the stove on medium high and got it boiling.

Then I cut up my chicken breasts and added it back in to make a Coq Au Vin STEW since that is what mine resembled at this point.

I did a test taste and was BLOWN away by how salty this was. I quickly googled "overly salty dish help" and found a web site that explained if your dish is too salty you need to add sugar and an acidic like lemon juice. Likewise if your dish is too sweet add salt and an acidic and you can guess if it's too acidic add salt and sugar.

So I tried it. I added lemon juice and sugar...and added more sugar and more lemon juice. If I had added potatoes at this point do you think they would have absorbed the salt?

It was a beautiful presentation.

My favorite thing were the carrots and the wine sauce. Jim only had a couple bites of his - but enjoyed the 2005 El Portillo tempranillo I served along with it. The saltiness of the dish really ruined this lovely meal. I read and reread the recipe several times to see if I made a mistake but my photographs prove I followed her recipe closely. Adding more vegetables (small onions and mushrooms) would have helped absorb the salt maybe. But leaving them out should have been okay too. I will make this again, mostly because I like saying "Coq Au Vin" with a fake accent and also because this dish has WONDERFUL potential if I can get the seasoning right.