Roast onion tarte Tatin with apple and Comté salad

A quick and easy tart recipe for an impressive vegetarian lunch.

📝 Ingredients

• 75 gm caster sugar
• 40 gm cold salted butter, chopped
• 2 tbsp Sherry vinegar
• 6 thyme sprigs, plus extra sprigs to serve
• 3 large Spanish onions, sliced into 1.5cm-thick rounds
• 375 gm sheet butter puff pastry (we use Carême), rolled to 4mm thick and cut to a 25cm round
• Apple and Comté salad
• 1 witlof, leaves separated
• 2 cups (loosely packed) each frisée and watercress sprigs
• 1/4 cup (loosely packed) chervil
• 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp hazelnut oil
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp finely chopped chives
• 3 tsp each Sherry vinegar and lemon juice
• 1 red apple, thinly sliced on a mandolin
• 50 gm Comté, shaved
• 50 gm roasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 11: Preheat oven to 190°C fan-forced. Scatter sugar evenly over the base of a 25cm-diameter cast-iron frying pan and cook over high heat until sugar begins to dissolve and caramelise around the edges (1-2 minutes). Start swirling pan occasionally to cook sugar evenly (do not stir) until sugar is all caramelised (3-4 minutes). Add butter, vinegar and thyme, swirl to combine (20-30 seconds), then remove from heat. Arrange onions over caramel in a circle, removing outer rings from some onion rounds to fit neatly in a single layer. Cover with puff pastry round, tucking edges down around the onions. Score centre for steam to escape, then bake until pastry is dark golden and puffed (20-25 minutes).
2. 22: Meanwhile, for salad, place witlof, frisée, watercress and chervil in iced water to crisp (10 minutes). Drain; dry well with a clean tea towel. Place olive oil, hazelnut oil, mustard, chives, vinegar and juice in a large bowl, season to taste and whisk to combine. Add witlof mixture, apple, Comté and hazelnuts; gently toss to dress.
3. 33: Remove onion tarte Tatin from oven; stand for 1 minute. Place a serving plate on top; shake pan to loosen, then work quickly, invert tart (be careful, hot caramel can drip). Cut tart into wedges, scatter with extra thyme and serve with apple and Comté salad on the side.