Ricotta Tart with Caramelized Onions

We've been working hard on various projects inside and outside lately and I haven't had much time to play in the kitchen.  I woke up a couple of Saturdays ago and realized I could spend the day baking. I had a hankering to make my own pie crusts [which does not happen very often] and to experiment with ricotta fillings.  I made a savory one and a sweet one. 

I saw this tart a few weeks ago and decided to do something similar with what I had in the pantry.

I had ricotta and onions.   And thyme.  And that odd hankering to make my own crusts [which does not happen very often.]

So I set to work.

Ricotta Tart with Caramelized Onions
www.rurification.com

• 1 pie crust
• 3 large onions
• 1/2 tsp - 1 tsp salt
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups ricotta cheese
• a few grinds black pepper
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp garlic salt

Start caramelizing the onions in the butter right away.   I've talked about this before, but I'll review the salient points again.  You have to cook them down in a protein fat, like butter.   Butter is good.  Slice the onions thin and pop them into a big skillet.  Cook them down, down, down.  It takes at least an hour.   At. Least.  Salt them a bit.

Don't rush the onions.  You need that golden crispiness to bring out the sweet. 

While the onions are cooking you can make the pie crust and chill it.  Use your favorite recipe.

While the pie crust is chilling, you can mix up the filling.  Mix the cheese, pepper, thyme and garlic salt in a bowl and chill it until the onions are done.

When the onions are golden and browning, roll out the pie crust if you're making homemade.   Put the crust in a tart dish or on a flat baking sheet.  Put the cheese filling in the center of the crust and pile the finished onions on top.  If you're doing a tart pan, then flute the edges of the crust.  If you're doing a flat rustic tart, then spread the filling and onions to within 1 1/2 inches of the edge and fold the edge in over the cheese and onions.  Make it pretty.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until the crust is golden.  Put it on a lower rack if you want a golden bottom as well.

Cool completely.  Delicious served at room temperature.  Or cold.  Or microzapped as leftovers.  We loved this tart!

Honeyed Onion Garlic Jam

Last year I made some fabulous Onion Garlic Jam.   I added bacon to it and had some super fabulous Bacon Onion Garlic Jam.   It was to die for.    Lily and I loooooved it and pretty much ate all of it ourselves.   *burp*   And did not regret one tiny mouthful.    

It's heaven.  



This year I decided to make some more only instead of using the white sugar, I wanted to sweeten it with honey.    Mmmmm.    It is fantastic!   So, here is a recipe for Honeyed Onion Garlic Jam with no white sugar.  Yay!

Honeyed Onion Garlic Jam
www.rurification.com

• 2 large onions [the sweeter the better], sliced
• 1 full heads of garlic, peeled.
• 2 T butter
• 2 T oil
• 2 T balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup white wine vinegar.   I use my own.
• 1/2 cup honey
• 3 T real maple syrup.  I use my own.
• dash of pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt 

Cut the onion up in thin slices, then cut the slices down in length to a couple of inches.  I like that texture in the finished product. 

Don't mince the garlic.   If you leave them bigger, you can use them as a gauge to see how done things are later.  When the onions are truly caramelized, everything will be very very soft and fall apart when pressed with a spoon.  This is easier to see in the garlic cloves.  Let them be your guide.

Put the butter, oil, onion, garlic and balsamic vinegar in a heavy pan on low.   I have a 1-10 range of settings on my stove and I put it at between 2 and 3.    Cook the onions and garlic until they are caramelized - at LEAST an hour or more.  My last big batch took 4 hours because I did a huge batch all at one time. 

Make sure things are soft and falling apart!

To your lovely brown mix of caramelized goo, add the vinegar, honey, maple syrup, salt and pepper. You can turn the pan up to medium heat while you cook this down to the consistency you want.   When you drag a spatula along the bottom of the pan, you should see some space behind it before the juices gather round again.  Once you see that space, then it's done.   It will thicken up a lot when it's cold.

You can steam or water bath can this jam to keep it long term.   10 minutes for jellies.  

Want to turn this into Honeyed Bacon Jam?  While the onions are caramelizing, cut 4 slices of raw bacon short-ways into 1/2 inch or smaller pieces.  Fry it up until crisp.   Let it drain on a paper towel until it's cool.  Once it's cool, crumble it into bits.  When the rest of the jam is done, add the bacon to it and stir it up well.  Since Bacon Jam has bacon in it, don't try to can it.  Just keep it in the fridge.  Trust me, it won't last long anyway. 

Onion Bacon Garlic Jam

I've been reading lately about bacon jam and onion jam and garlic jam.   What caught my attention was the rave reviews - people really love those jams. 
Really.  

Love.  

Them.

Weird, huh.


This is basically how they work:

• Slow cook [on the stove or in the oven] the onion and garlic until they are caramelized. 
• De-glaze with wine and or vinegar.
• Add some sweet and other flavors.
• Cook it down until it's thick.
• Add the bacon if that's your thing.  

One thing that sticks out to me right away is that this is not rocket science.  It's pretty easy.   And slow.

Slow is good.

I just had to try it.  And you know what?   It was good.   Way better than I thought.  
Way Better.

As in - this stuff is really good.   I love it.  Right off the spoon.

Feel like trying it?   Here's a recipe for a small batch.   It'll yield around a pint, depending on how much you cook it down.

Before you start, note that this is a slow jam.    Sloooow jam.

Slow.   Jam.

Don't rush it.   Put it on, then find something to do nearby for an hour or so while things cook.

 Then find something else to do.

I repeat - don't hurry it.   It's a zen thing.

Be one with the jam.

The slooow jam.


Onion Garlic Jam

• 1 large onion [the sweeter the better], sliced
• 2 full heads of garlic, peeled.
• 1 T butter
• 1 T oil
• 2 T balsamic vinegar

I cut the onion up in thin slices, then cut the slices down in length to a couple of inches.  I like that texture in the finished product.

For the garlic, separate the cloves and get your biggest widest knife.   Lay the knife on its side over the garlic and press down hard with the heel of your hand.  You'll hear the garlic crack and then the skin comes off easily.    Peel every clove.  Cut them roughly so the big ones are about the size of the small ones.  Don't mince them.   If you leave them bigger, you can use them as a gauge to see how done things are later. 

Put the butter, oil, onion, garlic and balsamic vinegar in a heavy pan on low.   I have a 1-10 range of settings on my stove and I put it at between 2 and 3.    Cook the onions and garlic until they are caramelized - an hour or more.

This means that it will take the entire hour to cook down the way you want it to. 

Don't be all - 'My stove is smarter than your stove and I cooked those babies down in 15 minutes'.   We don't want them cooked, we want them caramelized.

Caramelized.

When they're caramelized, they'll be dark dark with very brown edges.  Don't let the balsamic fool you into thinking they're caramelized before they actually are.    They'll fall apart when they're caramelized.   The garlic pieces will be soft and fall apart easily when you put pressure on them with the spatula.

Don't rush it. 

It'll take at least an hour.   Clean out a cupboard or two while you wait.   File those papers that have been hanging out on the kitchen desk.  Give yourself a manicure.  Go weed a garden bed.

Once you've caramelized that stuff, then take a moment to break it up with the spatula into a consistency that you won't mind putting on toast points with goat cheese. 

Which brings up a question.  What are toast points?   I've never actually seen them.   At our house, toast is toast.  Sometimes it's French.   Are toast points just toast with sharp angles?   And no crusts?   Sounds like a lot of work.

Anyway.

To your lovely brown mix of caramelized goo, add:

• 1/2 cup white wine vinegar.   I use my own.
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 T real maple syrup.  I use my own.
• dash of pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt  

You can turn the pan up to medium heat while you cook this down to the consistency you want.   When you drag a spatula along the bottom of the pan, you should see some space behind it before the juices gather round again.  Once you see that space, then it's done.   It will thicken up a lot when it's cold.

You can steam or water bath can this jam to keep it long term.   10 minutes for jellies.  

Want to turn this into Bacon Jam? 

While the onions are caramelizing, cut 4 slices of raw bacon short-ways into 1/2 inch or smaller pieces.  Fry it up until crisp.   Let it drain on a paper towel until it's cool.  Once it's cool, crumble it into bits. 

When the rest of the jam is done, add the bacon to it and stir it up well.

It is delicious.

Delicious, I tell you.

I liked it better the next day after it had completely cooled and the flavors had melded overnight.

Each batch of the bacon jam made me just shy of a pint.  I kept it in the fridge and didn't attempt to can it because of the bacon.    I don't recommend canning this stuff because of the meat.   Keep it in the fridge.

And actually, it's so good, it won't last more than a day or so anyway.


For more jam recipes as fabulous as these, check out my ebook on the sidebar.  A Simple Jar of Jam: 180+ recipes & variations for jam using low sugar pectin.  Every purchase goes a long way toward supporting the blog.   Thank you!

Onion Harvest

Remember when I got that great deal on onion sets?    I planted them all and it's time to harvest.    This is the first year I've had that many to harvest and keep, so I'm learning as I go. 

You're supposed to pull them after a day or so of dry weather, which is all the time, lately, except it's been so hot that I have to water every day so the garden reality is that I pulled them after a wet day.

They don't dry as well that way, and with the humidity, it's been interesting getting them to cure.

The theory is that you do it this way:
1.  Wait until the tops fall over and then let them cure in the ground for 10 days or so.
2.  Pull them up after a couple of days of dry weather
3.  Brush them off and lay them out to cure in a well ventilated and very dry place - like Utah.
4.  Let them cure for a week or so and then put them in long term storage.

The reality is that I pulled them up damp and cut the rest of the tops off.  I put them on a holey table. tops down so they'd drain faster.    Some of them were so wet they got rust marks on them from reacting with the table.   It is hot and humid and we're constantly under threat of pop up storms, so I've been pulling them in whenever rain threatens.    Then I have to remember to take them back out and let them dry some more.

Long term storage will be almost impossible here because of all the native molds.   I think we're going to cut them up and dehydrate a bunch.   They'll keep better that way than fresh.

UPDATE:  I found a bunch of old onion bags and I've got the first already-cured batches in bags hanging in our back room.   That might be enough for us to keep them for a while without them getting yucky.  

P.S.  A room full of drying onions smells good.  
P.P.S.   I've got a recipe for onion-garlic jam coming in the next week or so that is To. Die. For.