Neil Forbes' recipe: Arran blue cheese and caramelised onion tart
Recipe: Arran blue cheese and caramelised onion tart with Arran mustard dressing
Neil Forbes of Edinburgh restaurant Café St Honoré gives his recipe for Arran blue cheese and caramelised onion tart with Arran mustard dressing.
Ingredients
- 100g plain flour
- 50g unsalted butter – diced
- 200g Arran blue cheese
- 2 large (or 4 small) onions – peeled and shredded
- 1 tablespoon Arran mustard
- 50ml cold-pressed rapeseed oil (Stark rapeseed oil is brilliant)
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
- A few salad leaves
- Good salt and pepper
- 1 egg yolk
Serves: 4 Difficulty: Easy
Method
To make shortcrust pastry, place the flour and butter into a mixing bowl and rub between your fingers until it has a texture like sand. Then add the egg yolk and enough cold water (about 3 or 4 tablespoons) to make a ball of dough. Add a pinch of salt (as late in the process as you can) and divide the dough into four smaller balls and allow them to rest for 20 minutes.
Line four 4-inch tart shells with a rub of oil or butter and a sprinkling of flour to make them non-stick. Roll each ball of dough out to about a 1 to 2mm circle, and line the inside of each tart shell.
Rest for 20 minutes.
Line the pastry in each tart shell with either a double layer of clingfilm or some greaseproof paper and fill with baking beads. Bake at 180°C for 25 to 35 minutes until golden-brown, removing the baking beads and clingfilm or paper towards the end of the bake. Allow to cool.
Meanwhile, heat half the rapeseed oil in medium-hot pan and fry the onions with a little salt and pepper until just golden, then lower the temperature and cook for a further 45 to 50 minutes. They shouldn't be too brown, just a light colour and soft texture.
Fill the tarts with the onion mixture and top with slices of the cheese. Place under a low to medium grill until lightly melted.
While the tarts are under the grill, make a dressing by mixing the Arran mustard, honey, vinegar and the remaining rapeseed oil.
To serve, drizzle over the dressing and add a little seasoning, and top with some crisp salad leaves.