This is one of those recipes with a few humble ingredients that combined together, form an intense blast of flavor that you'll find hard to resist. How can you go wrong when caramelized onions meet potatoes and gruyere cheese? Place those on top of puff pastry and you've got a winner - whether you serve it as an appetizer (watch it disappear in a flash) or as the main part of your meal.

The hardest part of this recipe is caramelizing the onions. Actually, it's not hard. It's just time-consuming. It takes about 1/2 hour of slow cooking to achieve this golden goodness. Your house will smell divine. I always posit that realtors would be advised to tell house sellers to forget baking cookies when prospective buyers are expected - cook some onions instead. 

Use store-purchased puff pastry and you'll be done in a flash. Smear the mixture of heavy cream, seasonings and some of the gruyere cheese over the pastry.

Caramelized Onion Potato Tart

Adapted from Food And Wine magazine

Ingredients:

• 1 pound medium-size (about 4 ounces each) Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1/8-inch slices (I used about a dozen small potatoes since that's all I had on hand, and they worked fine.)

• 2 tablespoons, plus 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced

• 2 tablespoons water

• 1 frozen puff pastry sheet (from 1 [17.3-ounce] package), thawed

• All-purpose flour

• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, plus more for garnish

• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 6 ounces Gruyère cheese, shredded (about 1 1/2 cups), divided

• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

• Black pepper

• Directions:

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Ingredients:

• 1 (14 oz) sheet puff pastry, thawed
• 8 oz whole milk ricotta cheese
• kosher salt
• freshly cracked black pepper
• 1 large pear, thinly sliced
• drizzle of olive oil
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tbsp cream (or milk)
• 1 tsp anise (or fennel) seeds
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1 large sprig fresh rosemary
• ¼ cup honey
• ½ cup chopped pecans
• 8 thin slices prosciutto di parma

The tart is easy to make, especially if you use a packaged pastry as I did. I chose to use puff pastry, but a regular pie pastry would also work just fine. Start by boiling a couple of large potatoes. Peel them, mash them with a fork and add some parmesan cheese and a beaten egg. Remove the skin from some Italian sausage and fry, then drain of any residual oil.

Crumble the sausage into the unbaked shell. You could choose a round tin, or pie plate if you prefer. Cover with shredded mozzarella cheese. Then take the potato mixture and using two teaspoons, place dollops on top of the mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, on the bottom rack of your oven, then turn on the broiler for a couple of minutes until the top is nicely browned.

Slice and serve with a salad for a complete meal. Or cut into smaller slices and serve as an appetizer.

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So the next time I made it, I doubled the recipe for the ricotta layer.

The filling tasted great, but the problem was that the crust was undercooked on the bottom, even though I left it in the oven a little longer than the recipe called for. It could be because in addition to doubling the amount of ricotta, I also baked two tarts in the oven at the same time, which may have caused the pastry to bake unevenly. Or was it because I forgot to prick the pastry before smearing on the Nutella? In any event, it’s worth making this tart, but be warned – bake only one tart in the oven at a time for best results.

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This tart is made with a shortbread crust and a frangipane filling (almond flour, eggs, etc.) from a recipe I found here.  But what sets it apart is the lattice top. Caveat – it’s a bit tricky to get the strips right. I tried making this last year but made the mistake of buying rhubarb that wasn’t wide enough and the strips were just too flimsy and hard to handle after poaching. Numerous strips also meant more weaving, and each time you move the strips, you run the risk of ripping them, so the fewer strips you have, the easier this is to make.

You can also make this in a round tart pan, but I recommend this long, thin one that measures about 13″ x 4.” You only need three strips lengthwise, if they’re hefty strips. The short ones aren’t a problem, it’s the long ones that will need to be raised over and over again to make the lattice, risking a tear each time you lift one.

You also risk cutting yourself if you use a mandolin and you’re not careful (guilty as charged). The strips were sliced to about 1/16 of an inch, which is thick enough to hold together while it softens in the poaching liquid, but not so thick that it’s hard to bite through a piece.

Measure your strips against your tart pan to be sure you have the right length and enough strips for the width too. My long pieces were just a little too short, but that gap can be covered up with a short strip at each end.You’ll poach the strips in a sugar/water liquid for about five minutes or until soft enough to poke a fork through. If you let it poach too long, the strips will disintegrate.

 

Now comes the fun part (also the part where you can easily break a strip – remember, I did warn you it was tricky).  The recipe tells you to weave it on parchment paper and transfer to the tart, but with only three long strips, I decided to do it right on the frangipane filling. Lay the lengthwise pieces in first.

Then lift each lengthwise strip and weave the short pieces over and under the long strips.

Rhubarb Tart

This not only was delicious, but was a snap to prepare and makes a really beautiful presentation. You can make the pastry with your own recipe, but for this particular day, I took a shortcut and bought frozen pastry from Trader Joe’s.

All you really need to do is sauté some scallions with spinach and a couple of anchovies (don’t worry, it doesn’t give it a fishy taste. The anchovies “melt” and add great flavor). Let the mixture cool, then mix it with ricotta cheese and parmesan cheese.

Lay out the one layer of the pastry on a cookie sheet (I used a pizza stone) and spread the filling all around.Layer it with a second sheet of pastry.  Crimp the edges with a fork, and place a small bowl in the center. You’ll need this as a guide. Make cuts through the pastry in even measurements, then take each section and give it a twist.

 It will look like this when you’re finished. Remove the bowl and sprinkle with sesame seeds or poppy seeds. Bake for 30-45 minutes until golden brown. Cut into sections and let people serve themselves.

Buon Appetito!