Caramelised Onion and Tomato Tart

Some times you have a glut of something left in the fridge and nothing seems to use these particular ingredients so they sit around waiting to go off.   That is when I try to create something and regular dishes find themselves having added ingredients.

We had a surplus of tomatoes and onions having been given a whole load of each.    I was not going to waste them. In this instance I had made my own pastry but bought would work just as well.

Ingredients 
Pastry
Onions lots and lots sliced thinly
butter (butter is best for caramelising but you could use oil if necessary)
brown sugar - I use muscavado and probably not as much
Spinach - I always have this in the fridge and it lines the dish giving it a rich colour but you don't have to use it.
Tomatoes - lots again sliced 
Mozerella cheese -  roughly  torn into small chunks 




Melt the butter and fry the onions very gently, stirring often so they don't burn.

when they are really soft add the brown sugar and stir in well.

initially it will liquify but keep stirring to coat the onions really well and continue on a really gentle heat. 



When the sugar has all evaporated and the onions are almost golden in colour take it from the heat and allow to cool slightly.   We are now ready to put it all together.

Roll out your pastry and line your dish

you can build your layers however you want; I like spinach on the base, onions in the middle with the tomatoes spread over the top.  This could be repeated if you had enough of the fillings.

It was after the tomato layer I threw in some salt and a good helping of pepper but that is a matter of choice

a good covering of mozzerella cheese and the tart is ready for the oven.

A hot oven for 20 minutes or until the cheese is melting, bubbling and turning golden.  The smell of fresh tomatoes wafts through the house and the children miraculously appear demanding food.

This makes a great lunch dish or if you have to take a dish to some buffet event, you don't have to eat it hot.   

Enjoy and let me know if you have any recipes for using up extra.

Tiggy 

Check out my other blog at Tiggy Hayes

Flapjack

I was at a friends house and we had this flapjack.  One piece led to another with us all commenting how delicious it was. She was eventually persuaded to divulge the family recipe and although mine was slightly different it went down as well and did not last long in our house.

Ingredients
1lb Oats mixture with nuts and sultanas (I used a mix of 70% jumbo and porridge oats; with dried cranberries and apricots rather than nuts)
1/2lb butter or margarine
1/2lb Muscovado Sugar (I actually used a bit less as I am not keen on very sweet things)
4 tablespoons Golden Syrup
2 heaped teaspoons of Baking Powder
2 heaped teaspoons of Dry Ground Ginger

Melt the butter gently, adding the golden syrup and sugar allow to cool slightly




Mix all the dry ingredient together.


Add the dry mix to the butter and mix well so that all the oats and fruit are well coated.


Lay the mix in a buttered tin or on grease proof paper and put in a pre-heated oven at

 350°F/180°C/Gas 4 

for 25 minutes



When the flapjack turns a golden brown but is still soft to the touch (beware sugar content is really hot) take it from the oven and allow to cool.   It will harden once cooled.    Score the portion sizes out and once cooled leave in the fridge before cutting it up.

We like our flapjack gooey and soft but if you cook it slightly longer it will cool much harder.

Enjoy and there are so many variations to this let me know what your family love best.

Tiggy

Find out what I am up to in my other blog  Dawn Chorus