Just Baking

So, for Valentines Day, I had planned on making a saucy dessert, made scarlet with raspberries and strawberries, perhaps something with cream or jelly, or a tart curd of some sort. Perhaps a simple Creme au Coeur. However, my desire for something savoury got in the way of all so I made a distinctly unpudding-like main course: Cherry Tomato, Goats Cheese and Onion Marmalade Tart.

The original recipe, entitled Love Apple Tart, had a slightly more Mediterranean feel than my own taste buds dictated, using anchovies and olives but I wanted something more bolstering. I wanted onions and I wanted Goats cheese!

Let me elaborate. Not all of us have a sweet tooth (although I am guilty as charged) or, we won’t have time to produce a romantic three course meal for the big V-Day due to familial obligations, work etc. Strawberries are not particularly great at this time of the year – what’s the point of being fed fruit that makes you wince with sourness?

This Love Apple Tart, adapted from a recipe in this months Country Kitchen, hits the spot. It serves as a main course for dinner, plus it is suitably romantic enough to show the loved one in your life that you have made an effort. Furthermore, you can recycle the recipe, using a round tin instead, at anytime of the year.

What this picture doesn’t show is our ‘arts and crafts’ (read botched) heart shaped mould, professionally fashioned by my husband from a cornflake box and some tinfoil. What this picture also fails to indicate is the collapsing of the tart whence it was moved from the pizza stone and onto a plate. Still, this teaches us two things: 1) use proper bakeware and 2) use round tart tins. Frankly though, it tasted delicious and if it’s just for the two of you, then who cares if you’re eating the tomatoes with your fingers and breaking bits of pastry off because you can’t wait for it to cool off?

CHERRY TOMATO, GOATS CHEESE AND ONION MARMALADE TART
serves 2

Ingredients:
Shortcrust Pastry
500g Cherry Tomatoes, small vine ones have the most flavour
100g Goats Cheese, any kind, soft and crumbly or sliceable
2 Large onions, peeled and sliced
Salt and Pepper
Teaspoon Brown Sugar
Drizzle Olive Oil
20g Butter

METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 180c.  Melt the butter in a frying pan and add the onions, some salt, lots of pepper and the sugar. Let them sweat down over a low heat for half an hour or until collapsed, golden and a bit like marmalade. Leave to cool.

Whatever shape tin you choose to punish yourself with, you will need to line it with your shortcrust pastry which is then to be blind baked for about 15 minutes.  Remove the pastry crust from the oven and spread the onion mixture over the base. Crumble the Goats Cheese over the top of this then top with the cherry tomatoes. Grind over some more black pepper, a pinch of salt and a little olive oil (not too much because the Goats Cheese gives off a lot of oil).

Bake for 30 minutes or until the tomatoes start to pop but not collapse.  Leave to cool for about 5 minutes before attempting to unmould but I’ll tell you here and now, you’ll have issues so it’s best just to serve it in the tin.

Regardless of how you spend Valentines Day, whether you’re slurping oysters and champagne in Paris, or sharing a Big Mac in Braintree, have a wonderful day!