5-ingredient caramelised onion tart

“This easy recipe, inspired by one in Nigel Slater’s book Appetite, is part pizza, part pissaladière. You can use red onions, leeks or fennel instead of shallots, or even tomatoes, but I like the combo of onions, cheese and salty capers with white anchovies on the side. I’m not a confident dough-maker, so
I love that this is made with ready-made puff pastry, which is lighter and flop-proof.”
– Kate Wilson

1. Peel the shallots and cut into halves or quarters lengthways (depending on their size). They need to be thick wedges.

2. Melt the butter in a pan, add the onions and cook over a medium heat for as long as it takes for them to caramelise. This can take up to 40 minutes, but they have to be golden and sticky.

3. While the onions are cooking, preheat the oven to 220°C. Unroll the pastry onto a floured baking sheet and use a knife to score a 2 cm border around the edges (this will puff up to become the edges of your tart). Prick the pastry all over using a fork.

4. Tip the sticky onions into the centre of the pastry, leaving the border uncovered. Brush the border with the butter left in the pan. 5 Slice or tear the cheese into small pieces and evenly scatter over the onions, then scatter over the thyme and capers, if using.

6. Bake the tart for 15–20 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and puffed and the cheese has melted. Cut into squares to serve.

Cook's note: Make sure the pastry is very cold when using, and score the edges using a very sharp knife. This will result in a magnificent puff!

Find more tart recipes here.

Photographs: Jan Ras 
Production: Abigail Donnelly and Kate Wilson
Food assistants: Emma Nkunzana and Josh Van Zyl