23 Dec Caramelised onion, kale and blue cheese tart with pecans in almond and spelt pastry

A delicious tart for an alternative Christmas dinner dish or just a lovely tart to have with a salad or roast vegetables. It also pares nicely with the Red bean Ratatouille with Brussels sprouts in the ‘stews and curries’ section.

150g wholegrain spelt flour
50g ground almonds
75g butter cut into cubes and straight from the fridge
50g water
½ tsp salt

Caramelised onions

4 medium red onions, chopped in ¼’s and finely sliced
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt

Filling

75g or 3 handfuls of finely shredded kale
100g Crozier blue cheese (Irish sheeps cheese made with vegetarian rennet), roughly chopped
4 large eggs
150 ml milk (of your choice) or cream
Good grind of black pepper and salt
15 pecan halves

Preheat oven to gas 5 or 190C

Start with the caramelised onions. Fry the onions in a large frying pan until soft and sticky about 25 minutes. Add the salt, sugar and balsamic vinegar and cook for another 5 minutes.  Set aside.
While the onions are cooking make the pastry. Oil a 10 inch tart tin or dish.
Make the pastry by adding all the ingredients into your food processor except the water. Process until it forms breadcrumbs and then with the motor running add the water until it starts to form a ball.
Flour your surface and roll into a round to fit your tart tin or dish and put in the fridge for 15 minutes.
Bake blind for 15 minutes- place some scrunched up grease proof paper on the pastry and some baking beans to weigh it down. And bake in the centre of the oven for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and put back in the oven for 5 minutes just to cook the surface.
Spread over the onion mixture.
Place the kale in the pan that you cooked the onions in and stir and cook for five minutes or so to wilt. Spread over the onions.
Grind over some salt and black pepper.
Dot over the cheese.
Whisk the eggs and milk together and pour over the kale and onions and cheese.
Press the pecan halves onto the top.
Bake for 30 minutes or until set and nicely browned.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes before slicing.

Serves 8.

Nutritional info

Eggs – protein, omega 3 oils, iron
Butter – vitamin A and D and E, antioxidants (in grass fed only), mostly milk fat only traces of lactose so can often be tolerated for those with lactose intolerance
kale – part of the brassica family, anti cancer great fibre and folic acid for blood formation
red onions – antioxidants, fibre, anti histamine
almonds – fibre, protein, good oils
spelt flour – B vitamins, easier to digest than regular flour as it has less gluten
Pecans – protein, good oils, fibre