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5 from 1 vote

Roasted Carrot and Red Onion Free Form Tart with Cheddar Pastry

Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time50 minutes
Total Time1 hour 20 minutes
Author: Gina @ The Passionate Pantry

Ingredients

CHEDDAR PASTRY

  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tbsp iced water

  • 120 g cheddar cheese cut into 2cm cubes

  • 200 g white spelt flour or plain flour
  • 100 g cold unsalted butter cubed
  • 1 tsp sea salt flakes or ½ tsp fine sea salt
  • ½ tsp cracked pepper

FILLING

  • 175 g cheddar cheese cut into 2cm cubes

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 200 g roasted carrots see notes ... to be done ahead

  • 2 small to medium red onions peeled weight 300g, sliced into thin wedges 1cm wide
  • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 tbsp raw caster sugar or plain caster sugar

  • 150 g sour cream
  • 2 tsp sea salt flakes or 1 tsp fine sea salt
  • 1 tsp cracked pepper
  • 5 to 10 g mint leaves roughly chopped (to personal taste)

  • 1 egg lightly beaten
  • Nigella or sesame seeds
  • Few mint leaves for garnish

Instructions

METHOD FOR PASTRY

  • Place vinegar and water into a small jug and place into the freezer for 5 minutes
  • Place 120g cheddar cheese into TM bowl and mill 6 seconds / speed 8
  • Add flour, butter and seasonings and mix 6 seconds / speed 6
  • Add water and vinegar mix from the freezer and knead 30 seconds
  • Turn dough out onto a piece of Glad Wrap or silicon mat and bring into a flattened disk
  • Wrap in the Glad Wrap or silicon mat and refrigerate 30 minutes
  • Before cleaning the TM bowl, place 175g cheddar cheese used in filling into TM bowl and chop 4 seconds / speed 8 … put aside until ready to use

METHOD FOR FILLING

  • While pastry is resting prepare the filling
  • Place the onions, vinegar and sugar in a bowl, toss to combine and set aside
  • When ready to roll out the pastry, preheat the oven to 200°C fan forced
  • Break an egg into a small bowl, lightly mix with a fork and put aside
  • Place a large piece of baking paper on your bench (once the pastry is rolled out and filled on the baking paper, you will lift this paper with the tart on it, onto a large baking tray so get that ready too)
  • Remove pastry from fridge, dust the baking paper with a little flour, place pastry on top and dust that lightly with flour too
  • Roll pastry out to a 35cm round, dusting lightly with flour as needed (the pastry will overlap slightly on the baking paper but don’t worry as you will be folding it in)
  • Place sour cream, reserved 175g milled cheddar, seasoning and mint in a small bowl and mix to combine
  • Spread sour cream mixture over the pastry circle, leaving a 5 to 6cm border clear
  • Add the baked carrots to the red onion mixture and gently toss together
  • Leaving behind any juice in the base of the carrot/red onion bowl, place carrot and red onion mixture on top of the sour cream mix
  • Lightly brush the edges of the pastry with the beaten egg, then lift the edges up and fold the pastry over onto the filling leaving the middle open (the egg will help the pastry stick together)
  • At this point carefully lift the baking paper with the tart on it, and place onto a baking tray
  • Brush the top of the pastry with the egg, then pour any leftovers of the egg into the middle of the pastry so that you don’t waste it
  • Sprinkle the pastry border with either nigella seeds or sesame seeds
  • Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, turn tray around and continue for a further 10 minutes, or until a rich golden colour (it usually takes 40 minutes in my oven)
  • Cool for 10 minutes, before topping with fresh mint leaves and serving

Notes

The carrots need to be pre-prepared, and this can be done a day ahead when making dinner the night before if that works best for you.
To prepare the carrots, peel 400g carrots, cut into large chunks, drizzle with a little olive oil and sea salt flakes, and bake at 200 degrees fan forced for 25 minutes ... they should just be starting to get a little colour by then, and still have a little resistance when poked with the tip of a sharp knife. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before using.
NB: it is amazing how much weight you lose through peeling vegetables, and water lost through baking, so at the end of this process you should end up with maybe just a little over the 200g baked carrots needed for the recipe, so use what you have.