Alsatian Onion Tart | Tuesdays with Dorie

Alsation Onion Tart is, according to Dorie Greenspan in the book, Baking with Julia, a "flat, pizzalike galette covered to its very edge with meltingly tender..... mix of onions and bacon." It was a traditional Sunday supper dish in Alsace, to be served after church.

This tart is comprised of a puff pastry crust topped with a "soubise," a mixture of onions and bacon. The onions are simmered in chicken broth until softened, and then combined with cream. The bacon is boiled and then barely fried before being added to the tart. The original recipe calls for slab bacon. I used uncured sliced bacon instead, and was pretty happy with the results.

The original recipe also calls for four "very large" onions. I ended up with a lot of extra onion mixture after piling the onions onto the puff pastry. Two very large onions would probably be enough.

Alsatian Onion Tarts are typically round. I rolled mine into a rectangle. Why? It fit perfectly into my quarter sheet pan, which fit perfectly into my refrigerator overnight.

I totally loved the flavors of this tart. I had prepared all of the components (pastry, onions, and bacon) the day before, and baked the tart in the morning. It made an amazing late morning breakfast. Tasty!!

For this tart, you can either use store bought puff pastry, or make your own. Check out this post for how I actually made my own puff pastry!

Alsatian Onion Tart

Ingredients

8 ounces of chilled puff pastry scraps

4 very large onions, peeled and diced (or less, as mentioned above)

1 C chicken broth

3 T heavy cream

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 to 6 ounces sliced bacon

Instructions

1. Roll out the pastry scraps to a very thin 10 to 12 inch circle or equivalent rectangle. 
2. Place the pastry on a parchment lined baking sheet and prick the pastry with a fork all over. Don't scrimp on this as you want the dough to remain flat while baking. 
3. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
4. Place the onions into a large sauce pan with the chicken broth, and simmer for about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally. The onions should be very soft. 
5. Let the onions cool. Drain the onions in a strainer to remove any extra liquid. Put them back into the sauce pan. Mix in the cream and salt and pepper to taste.
6. Cut the bacon slices into half inch pieces and place them in boiling water for one minute. Drain on paper towels.
7. Fry the bacon slices for 2 minutes in a hot pan. Drain on paper towels. 
8. Note: The pastry, onions, and bacon can be kept in the refrigerator overnight until you are ready to bake the tart.
9. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
10. Spread the onions over the dough, push the bacon pieces into the onion mixture. 
11. Bake the tart on the lower third of the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until golden brown. 
12. Serve immediately.