Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Tart

This tart is a great dish to make for just about any type of entertaining. Smothered in caramelized onions and tempered with tangy goat cheese, it makes a great appetizer cut into wedges or even a cocktail snack cut into bites. I’ve also served it as a vegetarian entree when one is needed. It tastes like far more work than it is and the effort of caramelizing the pile of onions called for is more than worth the end result.

Caramelized Onion Tart

Ingredients (9×13 sized pan):
-2 tubes of crescent roll dough
-3 to 4 pounds of onions, sliced thin
-2 TBsp olive oil
-dash salt
-5 oz goat cheese, softened, or 1/2 goat cheese and 1/2 cream cheese

Directions:
First, assemble your crust. Unroll the crescent dough, trying your best to keep the sheet intact, and line a lightly greased 9×13 casserole dish with the dough, making sure to come up the sides a bit. You may have to be a little creative here to get the whole thing lined. Make sure all seams are pressed together as well, so that the whole thing bakes into one piece. Follow baking instructions on your package, taking care not to overbake and cover the edges with foil if they start to brown too much.
While the shell is baking caramelize the onions. Heat a large pan over medium heat, add the olive oil, onions and just a touch of salt and toss to combine. Stir the onions frequently to prevent burning and cook until deeply caramelized.
Allow the crust and onions to cool before you assemble the tart. To do this, spread the goat cheese evenly over the pastry and spoon the onions over the cheese, spreading into an even layer. To finish, cover pan in foil and reheat tart in a 350 degree oven until hot and a bit bubbly, about 15 minutes.

Notes:
-For a smaller tart, halve the ingredients and use a nine inch pie plate or square or round cake pan instead. Be creative in fitting the crust in and proceed as usual.
-Variations–This also works well with roasted tomatoes instead of or in combination with the onions, as well as with zucchini in the summer. Slow roast enough tomatoes to fill whatever sized tart you’d like to make, rough chop them and use them to top the goat cheese. To make slow roasted tomatoes, halve ripe (even ripe winter specimens) tomatoes from stem to bottom, removing the green bits of stem. Toss lightly in olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper and/or steak seasoning and place in a 200 degree oven for 10-12 hours (overnight works great). Tomatoes should appear shrunken and somewhat drier than when you put them in. The flavor will have concentrated and the texture will have softened. These are great on their own as well and will probably get their own post in time. Make a huge batch, you’ll find uses for them.