Sorrel and Red Onion Tart
This recipe is based on the Sorrel-Onion Tart from The Greens Cook Book by Deborah Madison, who in turn credited her inspiration: Simply French Food by Richard Olney.
Do use ready made shortcrust pastry if you like, otherwise follow the below to make your own.
Ingredients
For a 25cm tart tin
Short crust pastry
275g plain flour + a sprinkle to prepare the tart tin
150g unsalted butter (cold from the fridge, cut into small dice) + butter to prepare the tart tin
Pinch of salt
A small glass of ice cold water
Baking beans (I use dried chickpeas. I keep a tupper of them in my baking cupboard for this purpose). These are not for eating they are for weighing down the pastry!
Filling
50g butter
1 red onion, sliced finely
Pinch of salt
100g sorrel (this is the usual yield of the plant in my garden when I let it grow to full capacity)
2 eggs
200ml double cream
Pinch of nutmeg
60g cheddar
Method
Prepare your tart tin: rub it with butter, sprinkle on some flour, shake off the excess flour.
Preheat your oven 200°C/180° FAN.
To make the pastry: combine flour and salt in a bowl and add the 150g cold diced butter. Rub the butter into the flour until it has the appearance of breadcrumbs.
Spoon in a couple of tablespoon iced water and combine to bring the pastry together. Add more water if necessary but go slow so you don't add too much too quickly.
When you have brought it together, shape roughly into a thick disc, wrap in baking paper and pop in the fridge to rest for 20 minutes, while you prepare the filling.
Melt the 50g butter in a shallow wide pan. Add the red onion and pinch of salt and cook slowly over a low heat until soft and cooked. Keep it on low, you don't want them to brown at all. This will take 10-15 minutes,
While the onion is cooking give the sorrel a good wash in a sink of cold water, especially if you're bringing it in from the garden. Spin dry and cut out the stems, you are only going to work with the leaves. Chop up the leaves roughly.
When the onions are ready add handfuls of sorrel and stir as it cooks down. It's like spinach in that it will cook down quickly. When all the sorrel has been added and cooked down, put aside to cool.
Take the pastry from the fridge and roll out to line your tart tin. If it's too hard to roll, leave it for 10 minutes or so. Pop your lined tart tin in the freezer for 10 minutes, for another rest.
Take your pastry case from the freezer. Line the bottom with baking paper, add your baking beans and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, take out, remove beans and paper and it pop back in for another 5 minutes.
While your case is pre-baking, whisk the eggs with the cream, add the onion and sorrel mix. Taste for salt, add a scrunch of black pepper and a pinch of nutmeg.
When your pastry case has pre-baked, sprinkle half the cheese over the tart base, cover with the filling and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.
Turn down the oven temperature to 180°C/160° FAN and bake the tart for 30-40 minutes. Check after 30 minutes to see if the custard is set. If set and coloured nicely, you're all set!
Serving suggestions
This tart is very versatile. Serve it hot as a main course, with new potatoes and a salad. It will happily sit for you to serve it warm/at room temperature if you would like to serve a slice as a strarter with a pile of dressed salad leaves. It is equally delicious cold on a picnic!
