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.