An impressive and savory tart with sweet roasted onions and pears in a creamy goat cheese filling. Serve this as a starter during the cooler months.
Prep Time30 minutesmins
Cook Time1 hourhr50 minutesmins
Chili Time30 minutesmins
Course: Appetizer, Brunch
Cuisine: Baked Goods, Vegetarian
Keyword: goat cheese, onion, pear
Servings: 8slices or 12 as an appetizer
Calories: 295kcal
Author: Tricia Cowper | The infinebalance Food Blog
Ingredients
for the crust
1cupall-purpose flour
⅓cupwhole-wheat flour(whole wheat pastry flour is best)
1tablespoonsugar
½teaspoonsalt
6tablespoonsextra-virgin olive oil
4–6 tablespoons ice water
for the filling
1average sized sweet onionsuch as Vidalia, quartered, skins left on
1average sweet pearpeeled and sliced into thin strips, about 12-16 slices.
olive oil for drizzling over onions
6ozsoft goat cheese
1large egg
½cupsour cream
2teaspoonsfresh savourysage or thyme would also work nicely
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
for the crust
In the bowl of a food processor, add flours, sugar, salt and pulse to combine. Using the pulse function, add olive oil one tablespoon at a time, pulsing a few times after each addition, until mixture becomes crumbly and coarse.
Now do the same with the ice water, adding 4 tablespoons of the ice water and continue to pulse until large clumps of dough form and no powdery bits remain, about 5 seconds. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of water only if the dough still seems to be dry and is not clumping together. Again, only 1 tablespoon at a time and pulse a few times after each addition. This is a soft dough, it will not form a ball, but should stick together in small bits when you press some together with your fingers. (At this point, you could store dough, covered tightly in plastic wrap, in the refrigerator for 2 days or freezer for up to 4 weeks)
Dump dough into a 9-in tart pan with a removable bottom. Using your fingers push dough evenly over bottom and up the sides of the pan. Cover with plastic wrap. If needed, smooth the dough through the plastic wrap to even out any bumps. Place tart shell on a baking tray and freeze until firm, about 30 minutes.Preheat oven to 375.
Remove plastic wrap from frozen tart and prick surface with a fork all over. This will prevent any air bubbles from puffing up the crust. Ensure to prick the sides in several places as well. Cover tart with heavy aluminum foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans (that you use only for baking pies).
Bake on the middle rack for 30-40 minutes or until shell is golden brown and set. Allow to cool completely before filling and using. At this stage tart shell will keep at room temperature for 2 days.
for the filling
Preheat oven to 400.
Prepare onions by dusting off any dirt, cutting into quarters and placing on baking tray. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake until soft and slightly browned at the edges 30-40 minutes, depending on the size of the onions. Remove from oven and once cool enough to handle, remove tough outer layers and slice the soft remaining inside layers into slivers.
For pears, peel and slice pears and place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Add to the oven with the onions but watch carefully. Pears will be soft and fragrant after about 20 minutes. Don't let them dry out and burn. Remove from oven and remove any browned bits (often at the tops of the pears where the slices are narrow and thin).
to assemble tart
Preheat oven to 400.
In a medium bowl mash goat cheese until very soft and smooth. Add sour cream and egg and beat to combine. Add salt, pepper and fresh herbs. Spread evenly on bottom of pre-baked tart shell.
Arrange onion slivers in a fan pattern around the tart, on top of the goat cheese mixture.
Arrange pears in between the onion slices, evenly around the tart, 3-4 slices per quarter of pie.
Bake at 400 for about 30 minutes or until goat cheese has puffed up and browned.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
Can be made a day ahead. Bring back to room temperature before serving.
Notes
Nutritional information based on 8 slices. If serving as an appetizer, you can easily get 12 slices out of this tart.