Bacon & Onion Tart for Dad

My Dad's favourite dinner was always Bacon and Onion Pudding. Yuk. The rest of us hated it, but my Mum being my Mum, would make it for him occaisonally.

I developed this alternative one Fathers Day, and he did really like it! ( Ithink he may have prefferred the pudding deep down though!)

This serves 6 well. I use a deep 20com Pie/cake tin

Pastry
8oz Flour
40z Butter
Pinch of Salt
couple of Tbls of ice Cold water

The Filling
1.5lb of Onions
8 Rashers of streaky bacon, chopped into smallish pieces
3 eggs
3 heaped Tbls of natural Yogurt
knob of butter
1/2 tsp of Thyme, chooped very small
back pepper
6oz Cheddar Cheese

1. Make the pastry. Rub together flour, cold butter and salt till it resembles breadcrumbls
2, add 3 tbs of ice water and bring together. no not knead just bring the dough togther. Shape into disc and pop into the fridge for about 30 mins.
3, Once refridgerated, roll out and line the buttered tin with the pastry. Line the pastry with baking paper and baking beans and blind bake for approx 20 mins. Remove paper and beans and fontinue baking for about 5 mins.

To make the Filling
1. Cook the bacon for a few minutes in a large pan or wok
2, Stir in the onions. Cook for 10 mins with lid on and then add a small knob of butter, stir well and cook for a further 20 mins with lid off, stirring occaisionally.
3, Taste the onion to check they are soft and sweet. If not, cook a little longer. If they are remove from the heat and allow to cool.
4, In a large bowl beat all the eggs, then add a spoonful of yoghurt at a time and whisk into the eggs. Season with plenty of black pepper, you shouldnt need any salt becuase of the bacon. And add the thyme.
5, When the onion and bacon mix is cool, stir into the egg mixture. Spoon into pastry case and top with cheese
6, Bake in ove on 175 for 35-40 mins until golden on top. Turn the oven off and leave in the ovn for 5 mins. Leave to cool for about 10 mins. Serve warm, or completely cool.

Beer Onions

These are fabulous. A friend introduced us to these when camping one weekend.

This may seem like a lot of cooking just for some onions, but once you have tasted them you will understand. The amounts in this recipe are good for a few people, but what a generally do is make a huge batch ahead of time if its a BBQ or what ever :)

1lb finely sliced onions
1oz butter
1tbs olive oil
125ml beer
1 tsp Balsamic Vinegar (optional)

melt butter and oil then add onions, stir well then put on a low heat for about 20 mins stirring occaisionally. Check they are melting and sweet. If not leave for a few minutes before checking again.

Once you are happy with their sweetness, turn heat back up a teeny bit to just between low and medium, and add beer & Balsamic (if using)
Stir well and leave for 20 mins until liquid has disappeared.

What are they good for.....
BBQ's
Sausage & Mash
Sausage Pie
Meat Wraps
cheese on toast

Also experiment with different beers! A honey beer is my favourite or a good gutsy ale, or Guinness, or anything you fancy really!