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A little while ago, on a visit to Annisquam, Massachusetts, my friends Ann and Nick hosted an “Impress the Food Blogger” dinner at their home.
Guests were encouraged to bring a favorite dish, and we all got to vote on what we thought would be a hit on the site.
The evening was a blast, the votes were tallied, and the winning dish? This caramelized onion tart! Or pizza as it was called, brought by Ann’s friends Jeff and Marilyn.
I’ve made this tart several times since I first had it, and it’s one of those dishes you want to limit to special occasions, because it’s really hard to stop eating, it’s that good.
Crispy, pillowy puff pastry, with balsamic caramelized onions, topped with sprinklings of gorgonzola, brie, and tarragon.
The original caramelized onion pizza recipe is from Marilyn and Jeff’s friend Bonnie Stern,
Canadian author of several cookbooks.
I played a bit with the recipe, rolling the dough out more thinly, reducing the amount of onions and cheese, so the serving pieces would be easier to hold and work better as appetizers.
Perfect for New Year’s crowd. Enjoy and Happy New Year!
Caramelized Onion Tart with Gorgonzola and Brie Recipe
Tarragon is a summer herb, if you can't find any, you may crush a few fennel seeds (maybe half a teaspoon) and sprinkle over the tart. Or top with fresh chopped fennel fronds, after the tart has been taken out of the oven.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 4 cups of sliced onions, sliced root-to-top into 1/4-inch thick slices (about 2-3 med onions)
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 8 oz frozen puff pastry (defrosted a couple hours in the fridge)
- 2 oz chilled Brie cheese, rind removed and diced
- 2 oz Gorgonzola or other blue cheese, diced
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
Method
1 Caramelize the onions: Heat oil in a large deep pan on medium-high heat. Add onions and cook for about 10 minutes or until wilted and starting to brown. Add sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper.
Reduce heat and cook gently, uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until richly caramelized. Add a little water if the onions look like they are starting to dry out. Cool.
2 Roll pastry into a 10-to-14-inch rectangle (or whatever shape you want). Place pastry on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Prick with a fork at a couple inch increments to prevent the pastry from forming big bubbles while baking.
3 Spread onions over pastry, all the way to the edges of the pastry. Dot with cheese. Sprinkle with tarragon. Refrigerate if not baking immediately.
4 Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F for 18-20 minutes or until cheese has melted and pastry is crispy. Cool for 5 minutes. Cut into wedges or squares and enjoy!
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Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.
Caramelized Onion Tart with Gorgonzola and Brie
Fantastic recipe.I added thinly sliced tomatoes on top and basil and thyme. Did not last long in my house
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This sounds and looks amazing. I was wondering what you think about drizzling a bit I
Of quality aged balsamic over the top when it comes out of the oven?
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Hi Nancy, Sure! The onions have already cooked with a couple tablespoons of balsamic, but if you would like even more balsamic flavor, you can easily drizzle some on the cooked tart.
Forget the tarragon. Caramelise the onions (with a little) for longer before you add sugar and balsamic, use small lumps of goats cheese dotted across the top instead of the brie and gorgonzola and top with a few pine nuts. Also make a rim to the tart by cutting half way through an inch in from the edge, only bring the topping up to this cut and then brush the uncovered inch-wide strip with beaten egg before baking. Trust me…
Can I make it ahead and rewarm?
Hi Jess, this tart is like a pizza, not that great for making ahead and rewarming. That said, if you do want to rewarm it, I recommend doing so in the oven, not the microwave.
Not really, but you can make the topping and store that in the fridge and then quicklyassemble when you want to cook it.
I agree with Ann. Discovered your blog and thought this recipe looked interesting and was an appetizer I could take to a dinner party. I was good, but lacked something…don’t think the tarragon added to the flavor…maybe a touch of garlic and some pears, or even arugula would have added a little more zip.
Gretchen in Duxbury Ma.
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We’re sorry this recipe didn’t wow you like you’d hoped. A handful of arugula tossed on the tart just as it comes out of the oven might be divine! I have a strange aversion to tarragon, so another option (for tarragon haters) would be to use 2 tablespoons of fresh thyme leaves instead. Fresh thyme is so punchy and I bet that would wake a sleepy tart right up. Thanks for reading and cooking with us, Gretchen in Duxbury!