Caramelised onion tart with tomatoes and anchovies, and linguine with caramelised onions, pancetta and goat's cheese
Tender and sweet, caramelised onions are the star of a puff pastry tart and of a linguine recipe with pancetta and goat's cheese. They have a variety of other uses too, and keep well.
Text Susan Jung / Photography Jonathan Wong / Stylist Nellie Ming Lee
Making caramelised onion is something I love to do when I have plenty of time to spend in the kitchen. It's a long process - it takes at least two hours to do properly - although the active work (after slicing the onions) is easy and only involves stirring. Caramelised onion keeps well in the fridge (or freezer); it adds depth when used in soups and stews and is a good topping for pizza, burgers and even grilled cheese sandwiches.
This tart is almost like a pissaladiere but uses a different pastry, doesn't include olives and rather than cooking the onions and tomatoes together, I halve the tomatoes and put them on top.
Buy puff pastry made with butter rather than shortening, which isn't nearly as delicious. For this dish, I used home-made puff pastry and rolled it out so it fit the cutting board. If you buy the dough, it's preferable to use the kind that comes in a slab, because most commercial puff pastry sheets are rolled out too thin.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the pastry so it's about 3mm thick, about 36cm long and at least 17cm wide. Put the pastry on a parchment paper-lined tray and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (you can fold the pastry in half, if needed to fit in your fridge).