Winterfood tarte tatin with orange confiture and onions

Tarte tatin aux onions et confiture d'oranges

At our recent visit to the Netherlands, we took the time to meet up with friends and family. People prepared tasty food for us in return and amongst those great dinners, we had a surprisingly delicious tarte tatin. The tarte was presented with a cilantro scented crumbly bottom and was topped off with onions, homemade confiture and ginger. Although the cook criticised herself during the presentation of the dish, we all loved it. The only complaint we all could make in the end, was that it was so good, that we actually needed a second portion, but there wasn’t any.

I had to make more, so I asked our hosts for the recipe and along with the recipe we got a jar of homemade orange confiture. Perfect! I only needed to buy a bag of onions and a big piece of butter for the crust and bake this on a winter day. And that day came yesterday. Although it had snowed before this season, yesterday the snow finally managed to cover everything.

In case winter has arrived at your door as well. Don’t give it a second thought, just make this tarte and keep yourself and your loved ones warm. The herbs and the fruit in this recipe really spice things up and give it a special touch. Something very unusual. For me at least. I normally don’t add so much sweetness in a savoury meal. I did adjust the original recipe a little bit to have more filling – we are big eaters – and to make the crust more manageable during the preparation. Enough introductory words, here is how you make this tarte:

TARTE TATIN WITH ONIONS AND ORANGE CONFITURE

INGREDIENTS

CRUST

• 150gr flour
• 2 tsp cilantro powder
• 100gr butter (cubed)
• 1 egg yolk
• 3-4 tbsp lukewarm water
• pinch of salt
  

  FILLING

• 6 sliced midsize onions
• 3cm fresh ginger (chopped without peel)
• 4 tbsp orange confiture
• 1 tsp ginger powder
• pinch of salt

PREPARATION

The dough for the crust needs to be prepared at first. Mix the flower, cilantro powder and salt. Add the cubed butter and mix it by pinching the cubes of butter in between your fingers until the mix looks crumbly. Now add the egg yolk, keep on kneading and add the water spoon by spoon until you have a nice and firm consistency. The dough should not be wet and should not fall apart. You need to be able to make a ball out of it. When done, wrap it in a piece of plastic and place it in the fridge for 30-60 minutes.

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees when the dough is done. Now start with the filling. Heat up a pan with some added butter. When hot add the sliced onions and stir them around until they are glazy. Now add the fresh-, ass well as the powdered ginger. At last you can add the confiture together with the salt. Stir shortly and take it off the fire.

Go back to the ball of dough and take it out of the plastic. Roll it out slightly bigger than the base of your baking form. Place the onions on the bottom of the baking form and gently place the dough on top. Push the sides of the dough around the filling. Imagine that you have to turn it around and that the crusty will look like a plate that will keep the filling together.

You are now ready to place it in the oven. Ideally you will now use the grill function of your oven and grill the dough off from the top part of the oven. It will take around 20 minutes on 180 degrees. Keep one eye on your oven though. When the crust is nice and brown, you can take it out and immediately turn it upside down on a piece of baking paper. Let it cool down a bit and when the crust feels firm enough – or when you decide to serve it up – place it again in the oven, but now with the filling on top and grill it off for another 5 minutes. Ready! Enjoy. The cake is also very good when served up cold at a high tea or something. The crust has an extra bite when it’s cooled off.

You can serve it up with a neutral salad or eat it as a starter.