Shallot Tarte Tartin

By lorik

Ingredients

• For onion jam:
• 1 sheet good quality puff pastry
• 30 ml olive oil
• approx. 28 shallots
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp butter
• 25 ml red wine vinegar
• a glug of olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, coarsely chopped
• 2 red (Spanish) onions, very thinly sliced
• a handful of thyme leaves
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/8 cup (30ml) balsamic vinegar

Details

Servings 4
Adapted from opistachio.com

Preparation

Step 1

To make the onion jam: heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Add olive oil and garlic and stir occasionally until starting to caramelize (3-5 minutes). Add butter, onion and thyme, increase heat to medium high and stir frequently until onion begins to collapse (7-10 minutes). Add sugar and stir frequently until onion caramelizes (2-3 minutes). Add vinegar, reduce heat to low and stir occasionally until jammy (35-40 minutes). Season to taste. Cool.

To make the tarte tatin: preheat oven to 190°C / 375°F.

Peel the shallots, and trim the roots without cutting off the core (you want to keep that as intact as possible, so the shallots will stay together). Cut large shallots in half lengthways.

Heat a wide frying pan over medium-high heat, add oil, then shallots.* Stir occasionally, and very carefully (again, to keep the shallots intact) until golden (6-8 minutes). Add sugar and cook for 3-5 minutes, then butter. Cook, stirring occasionally, until a deep caramel colour, about 5 minutes. Add vinegar, reduce heat to low, season to taste and cook until shallots are soft (about 20 minutes). Allow to cool.

Butter a cake tin or shallow circular cooking dish. The size isn't particularly important, as long as it will accommodate an 8 or 9 inch tart; you want something that's going to be easy and safe to flip over later.

Carefully place the shallots in the cake tin, with their flattest sides facing up toward you. Don't spread them out to fill the tin, but push them close together in the very middle of it. Pour over the caramelised juices. Spoon the onion jam over the top of the shallots. Take a sheet of puff pastry and lay it gently over the top of the onion mound, trimming off any obvious excess and tucking the rest of it around the shallots.

Bake until golden and crisp, 12-15 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes. Loosen edges with a small knife, and then - very quickly and very carefully, while wearing oven mitts - invert onto a serving plate. Serve warm.

* If you have a tarte tatin dish, you can caramelise the shallots in it, then add the onion jam and pastry straight over the top.