Alsace Onion Flan Recipes

Steps:

• Sift the flour into a large bowl then rub in the butter with your (clean) fingers until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
• Mix the egg yolks with the salt and 3 tablespoons water. Stir into the flour, using a knife, to make a soft and smooth (but not sticky) dough. Add the extra tablespoon of water if the mixture is too dry.
• Pat the dough into a ball, wrap up in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 220C/425°F.
• Roll out the pastry on a floured surface and use to line a 10-inch tart pan.
• Prick the pastry all over with a fork and bake blind for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.
• Lower the temperature of the oven to 190C/375F and place a baking sheet in the oven to heat.
• Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan. Add the onions, bay leaf, thyme, salt and pepper. Cover and cook gently until the onions are soft and transparent, stirring occasionally.
• Add the wine and simmer, uncovered, until all the liquid has evaporated.
• Remove the bay leaf and taste for seasoning.
• Whisk the eggs and cream together.
• Spread the onions into the pastry crust and pour in the egg mixture.
• Place on the hot baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
• May be served hot or room temperature.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and use to line a deep 23cm fluted flan tin. Line with baking paper and fill with baking beans. Bake blind for 15 mins.
• Heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan, then gently fry the onions, covered, for about 30 mins until completely softened, but still pale in colour.
• Beat the eggs and cream together in a bowl, then add the cheese and some seasoning. Stir in the onions, then spoon the mixture into the flan case. Bake for 25-30 mins until lightly set and browned.

Steps:

• Melt the butter in a large lidded frying pan, add the onions and bay leaf, season with salt and pepper; cover the onions closely with a piece of buttered greaseproof paper then put the lid on the frying pan; cook the onions over a low heat for about 30 minutes until they are soft and golden (shake the pan occasionally to make sure they don't stick).
• Roll the pastry to ¼ inch thick on a lightly floured surface and use it to line an 8-9 inch diameter flan dish.
• Beat the eggs lightly in a large bowl and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg; stir the cream and milk into the beaten egg mixture.
• Drain the coked onions in a colander, remove the bay leaf and spread the onions over the pastry case; strain the egg mixture through a sieve over the onions.
• Bake the flan in the centre of an oven pre-heated to 400ºF / 200ºC / gas mark 6 for 35 - 40 minutes: when cooked the pastry should be golden and the filling set; the filling will sink slightly as the flan cools.

Steps:

• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400°F.
• Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 12-inch square, then transfer to a large baking sheet.
• Blend cottage cheese, sour cream, salt, and pepper in a blender until smooth.
• Cook bacon in a 10-inch skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until it just begins to brown, about 5 minutes. (Bacon should be tender, not crisp.) Remove from heat.
• Spread cheese mixture evenly over pastry, leaving a 1-inch border all around. Scatter bacon and onion on top, then sprinkle with parmesan. Bake until pastry is golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Cut into 36 pieces and serve warm.

Steps:

• Blend flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Scatter butter over flour, top with lid and pulse 12 pulses to cut butter into flour to a coarse meal consistency.
• Dump butter-flour mixture into a medium stainless bowl. Make a well in the center and pour ice-cold water into the well.
• Using a flexible plastic dough scraper instead of your warm hands, bring the dough together by folding and pressing. Be firm and brisk and get the dough past its shaggy stage into a neat disk, trying to avoid using your hands or too much kneading. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.
• Meanwhile, cut the onions in half and peel them. Slice the halves with the ribs (root end to sprout end direction), not against, to create julienne slices rather than half moons.
• In a wide sauté pan over medium-low heat, melt the bacon fat and slowly sweat the onions until they are caramelized. Take all the minutes you need - 25 or so - to let them soften to translucent, then to let the water they release start to evaporate, then to allow the sugars they contain to start to brown in the pan, so that you end up with soft, sweet and evenly browned onions. This is achieved by a slow caramelization. Set onions aside to cool.
• Roll tart dough out to a 1/4-inch-thick round, and drape over a round 10-inch fluted false-bottom tart pan. Lay dough into the pan, gently pressing into the bottom, and roll the pin across the pan to cut off the excess dough. Use your fingers to press the edges into the flutes, accentuating the shape of the dough edge. Dock the bottom of the dough with the tines of a fork, weight the pastry with beans or weight and blind-bake for 25 minutes.
• In a bowl, beat the egg with the cream. Stir in the caramelized onions. Season with pepper, nutmeg and salt to taste. Stir well, and make sure the onions are all evenly coated with the custard.
• Remove tart shell from oven, and slip it onto a baking sheet. Remove weights, fill with the onion-custard mixture and distribute it evenly. Return tart to oven on the sheet, and bake for 25 minutes, or until custard has set, the tops of the onions start to achieve a deeper brown and the dough is dark golden brown at the edges.
• Remove from the ring, and allow to cool just a few minutes on the rack, so that the piping hot tart shell can kind of tighten up enough to be sliced with a sharp chef's knife. (In the first few minutes straight out of the oven, the dough is kind of soft from the heat, possibly giving you the false impression that you have a soggy tart. Let it sit on the rack just to shake off this initial soft stage and to recrisp and refirm, which it will.) Cut into wedges, and serve while hot.

Steps:

• Place bacon in a skillet and cook over medium-high heat until cooked but not crisp and fat has rendered out, about 8 minutes. Drain in a strainer; reserve the fat.
• Place skillet back over medium heat. Add sliced onions. Cook briefly just until they lose their raw edge and soften up slightly, 3 to 5 minutes. Add a teaspoon or 2 of bacon fat if pan seems too dry. Remove skillet from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
• Mix fromage blanc, creme fraiche, nutmeg, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper together in a mixing bowl.
• Place 1 ball of pizza dough on a well-floured surface. Flatten and roll out to a 10- or 12-inch thin circle. Transfer to a cold cast iron pan. Heat over medium-high heat to pre-cook the bottom of the crust. As dough heats and bubbles appear, deflate them with the tines of a fork so crust ends up thin and crisp (not chewy). When bottom is nicely browned and just about to start getting charred, 5 to 7 minutes, remove from heat. Repeat with remaining dough.
• Spread a generous amount of cheese mixture over the crust. Top evenly with some onions and then the bacon. Broil 5 or 6 minutes until edges are browned and starting to lift. Repeat for remaining tartes.