Sally Abe's Cheese & Onion Tarts

Sally Abe on Great British Menu

On Friday 10 April, chef Sally Abe joined us on The Shift Show!

Sally is the Head Chef of Michelin-starred gastropub, The Harwood Arms in London and she has been spending her time off with husband Matt, cooking for Hospitality for Heroes, Age UK and The Felix Project. She was recently seen competing on Great British Menu, and this week we’re making those Cheese & Onion tarts she made on the show!

Go ahead and make this at home - we LOVED ours. Luckily saved some for lunch this week…

INGREDIENTS

2 onions

6 egg yolks

450g whipping cream

5g rosemary

9g salt

100g cheddar cheese

for the PASTRY

300g plain flour

150g butter

3 egg yolks

3g salt

30ml water

METHOD (video below)

Dice your butter into small cubes, add to your flour in a mixing bowl. Using your hands crumble the butter into the flour by rolling the cubes in between your thumb, middle and pointer finger. The result should resemble bread crumbs, no big chunks of butter should be left. If using a mixer, mix slowly until bread crumb consistency.

Add salt to your mixing bowl.

In a jug whisk your eggs and water, then add slowly to the mix. You don’t want to use all of the mixture in case it’s too watery. Easy to do by hand if you’re not using a mixer, hands work just as well. The dough should start to be coming away from the sides of the bowl. Once your bowl looks “clean”, remove the pastry onto your worktop.

Work the dough to ensure no cracks or holes are present. It should be nicely brought together, not sticky. If it’s sticky you will need to add some more flour.

Make it into a block, cling film and rest in the fridge for an hour. It can last in the fridge for up to 2 days, or can be frozen to keep for longer.

Take the pastry out of the fridge an hour before you intend to use it

To line the tart, roll the pastry to the thickness of a pound coin, then gently lay over the tart mould. Press into the corners and trim around the top of the mould. Line with clingfilm then fill right to the top with baking beads or rice

Bake at 175 degrees for 30-40 minutes until the pastry is cooked through

FOR THE FILLING

Peel and thinly slice the onions. Heat a saucepan over a medium heat and sweat the onions down with a little salt until softened but not coloured. Transfer to a plate and leave to cool. A good test is to taste the onions, if they’re sweet take them off the heat.

Finely chop the rosemary as small as you can get it

Dice the cheese into small squares.

Mix together the cream, egg yolk and salt then add the rosemary followed by the onions. Using a ladle, carefully spoon the mixture into the tart shell and sprinkle the cheese all over the top

Bake at 160 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

To test that it is cooked push a small knife against the filling, if no liquid comes over the tip of the knife it is ready to remove from the oven.

Leave to cool slightly before removing from the tart shell

Serve warm with a crisp bitter leaf salad dressed with cider vinegar and maybe a dollop of wholegrain mustard. Enjoy!