Caramelized Onion Tart with Lemon Zest and Thyme

I had my aunt Vijai, uncle Chico and cousin Randy over as they were eager to visit with Alexis. I always enjoy their visits, but this was even more special because it was all about my little angel. Mom cooked up a storm and wouldn't hear another word about it from me, but I wanted to contribute something, so I made an onion tart. I've done this before but more in a bite size portion, not in an 8" dish, but I did it and it turned out wonderfully. At dinner I had to preface that it was not a sweet tart, but Randy still expected it to taste like desert! It's an appetizer tart, it just didn't get to the table before the food, lol. I still love you Randy.

I forgot to take a picture before everyone had a slice, but this pic shows a great cross section!

Caramelized Onion Tart
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Pastry:
Flour		2 cups
Butter (I use margarine)		10 tbsp
Ice Water		1/4 cup
Rosemary		1 tsp (coarsely ground)
Sea Salt		1 1/2 tsp (ground)
Black Pepper		1 tsp (ground)
Filling:
Onions (large)		10
Margarine		1/4 cup
Lemon Zest		from one lemon
Thyme		3 tbsp, dried
Sea Salt		1 tsp
Black Pepper		1 tsp
Sour Cream		1/4 cup

Oven and Pans:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In an 8" pie dish, place a circle of parchment paper with the edges extended beyond the dish. This will allow for easy removal once the tart has cooled.

Preparation - Pastry Dough:

1. In a working bowl of a food processor, add flour, salt, pepper and rosemary.
2. Process to combine all dry ingredients.
3. Remove margarine from freezer and cut cubes into the flour mixture.
4. Process until mixture becomes course (think sandy). Shouldn't take more than a few pulses.
5. Add a few tablespoons of the ice water. It will be difficult to process after this and you don't want to overwork the dough, so try to judge how much you need to barely bring the dough together. You likely will not use all the water.
6. Empty dough and wrap into a ball with clingfilm. I empty the dough right onto the cling film and ball up from there, for minimal handling.

Preparation - Filling:

1. Slice onions lengthwise in quarter inch thickness.
2. In a pan, melt margarine on medium heat.
3. Add onions, stir often being sure to not let the onions brown.
4. Once they become translucent, reduce heat to medium low and stir only to avoid frying.
5. Cook down until onions have wilted dramatically and colour has darkened to half the desired shade.
6. Add black pepper, lemon zest, thyme and salt. Salt earlier would have brought out the moisture of the onion, and that would have increased the time required to begin caramelization.
7.  Continue cooking and stirring until onions have turned a golden brown and have developed the required sweetness.
8. Cool. The filling can be made in advance and stored in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to make the pie. Just bring all ingredients to room temperature prior to baking.

Preparation - Tart:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Use as little bench flour as possible and place dough on the board, pressing down the ball until it is a somewhat flattened circle. I leave the cling wrap on top of the pastry. This makes it easy to press without my hands touching the pastry and easy to roll without the pastry sticking to the rolling pin.
3. Roll out the pastry to approximately a 9" diameter and at least 1/4" thickness.
4. Lift the pastry and centre over parchment lined pie dish and roll into place.
5. Press into corners, pinch the edges, and use a fork to pierce the dough for venting (to prevent any air pockets and deformation).
6. Blind bake the tart shell for 20 minutes.
7. Remove tart shell and spread a thin layer of sour cream.
8. Drop onion mixture and use a fork to drag the strands to cover the tart bottom without disrupting the sour cream layer.
9. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until crust and onion peaks start to brown.

Taking Brunch in the Solarium on Good Friday

We were chatting, it was a warm morning and it just felt relaxing to brunch in the solarium for the first time since moving into the house.

Tuna Wraps

It's one of those rainy mornings where the cold is bone chilling. You want something comfortable to eat. Usually I'd go to fries and hot dogs, soup and sandwich, grilled cheese, toast and tea... but I digress. Yesterday morning was as I described above and I just woke up feeling that tuna salad was what we needed.

I have a simple basic recipe that really works. Again, the key is the accompaniments to the tuna - you can have it creamy and tasty, yet you can do it so that it's not a whole heap of fat or calories.

People knock the low fat or no fat options at the grocery store, but you shouldn't rely on fat for flavour. That's what freshly ground spices and herbs are for. I use low-fat mayo and non-fat sour cream for texture, and for seasoning, use a fresh garlic clove, freshly ground black pepper, and green onions. For lunch sandwiches, I prefer tuna salad cold, but for these breakfast wraps, we added a slice of 'non-fat Kraft sliced cheese' and toasted it in the oven. Out of everything on the list of ingredients, this is the one that everyone seems to hate, yet it flies off the shelf. Someone's buying all this cheese besides me! Chef's hate it because it's processed garbage, and generally it's seen as the simulated oil based non-dairy product. But the Nutrition Data website tells the truth about it - it's actually a decent product that just has a bad reputation. And honestly, nothing gets all melty-gooey like sliced cheese. That's what makes it 'comfort' - it takes you back to your childhood. Just great yummy, unpretentious food. If it makes my family (any myself) happy, that's all that matters.

Tuna Wraps
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Tuna Filling:
Canned/Vacupacked Tuna, drained		4 cans
Low-Fat Mayonnaise		1/2 cup
Non-Fat Sour Cream		2 tbsp, heaped
Celery		1 stalk, finely chopped
Green Onion		3 stalks
Garlic		1 clove, finely minced
Worcestershire		1 tbsp
Tabasco		1/2 tsp
Celery Seed		1/2 tsp (ground)
Sea Salt		1 tsp (ground)
Black Pepper		1 tsp (ground)
Lemon Juice		1 tbsp (optional)
Wraps:
Small Whole Wheat Wraps		8
Sliced Cheese		8

Preparation:

1. In a medium bowl, add strained tuna, celery, green onion and garlic and mix well.
2. Stir in sour cream until fully incorporated.
3. Add mayonnaise and make a divot to pool the seasoning before mixing into the tuna.
4. Add ground celery seed, ground black pepper, Worcestershire, Tabasco, salt and mix into the mayonnaise.
5. Stir entire mixture together until fully incorporated.
6. Set oven to 350F (I use a toaster oven).
7. I place two dollops in the centre of a wrap and spread out to fill the middle third.
8. Place cheese slice atop the tuna filling.
9.  Fold in sides of the wrap and hold fast with a toothpick. Lift the wrap a little to ensure the toothpick pierces through the bottom - it holds better this way.
10. Bake for 10 minutes. each person is served two wraps. This preparation serves four people.