Savoury Tartlets … a flavour explosion of cherry tomatoes & caramelised onion
“A world without tomatoes is like a string quartet without violins.”
Laurie Colwin
Sometimes simple basic ingredients can combine to surprise your taste buds, and how! Remember when I said in my recent Strawberry Orange Rough Puff Pastry Tart post that having puff pastry, rough or not, in the fridge/freezer is dangerous. It’s true and I have these Cherry Tomato & Caramelised Onion Tartlettes to prove it! They were as delicious as they look, maybe better!
One bite later, the ‘threatening to be quite terrible‘ pre-teen announced “Flavour crystals exploding in your mouth“, and continued to demolish the petite bites with gusto. He summed it up neatly. There was something about them, the flavours and the pairing!
What is it about caramelised onions that is so endearing, so addictive and makes for beautiful pairing? I love that it lends exciting depth, flavour and colour to a lot of Indian cooking. The strength of a good Mughlai chicken or lamb curry often has roots in patiently caramelised onions, as do a lot of vegetarian curries.
Sauté, sauté, sauté … then suddenly the edges begin to colour, from light brown to golden, your patience rewarded with crispy fried onions. Even though I use fried onions extensively in Indian cooking, as garnishes for biryani, as a base for stir fried broad beans, as my burst of flavour for lamb curries, and added glory to chicken kebabs, I had yet to use it in canapes etc.
I had an extra batch on hand. I fried double the amount needed as I was making chicken kebabs, so I stashed some away! Calling my name was that very dangerous rough puff pastry; this stuff is mood changing, especially if it is home made. Once I have a batch chilling in the fridge, happiness fills me up.
You tend to glide into the kitchen and begin rolling it it, knowing that in a short while you have the luxury of deliciousness rising in the oven. It might not deliver the authentic layers of puff pastry, but rough puff works for me beautifully!
The flavours were outstanding. Sweet caramelised onions, tart sweet cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, sea salt, the kick of vinegar…and of course garlic! Delicious crisp out of the oven, and pretty darned good cold too. { I made canapes with regular roma tomatoes yesterday, and cut the pastry into bite sized 2″ circles. Very good again!}
Summary: Delicious and addictive bites that offer a burst of flavour.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
- 300gms rough puff pastry {recipe here}
- 2 red onions, sliced very fine {approx 150gm}
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 150-200gm cherry tomatoes, halved
- Few leaves of fresh basil, chiffonaded
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Sea salt
- Freshly ground pepper
Method:
- Roll out the pastry into a 10.5″ X 10.5″ square. With a pizza cutter/pastry wheel, trim the edges and cut into 2.5″ squares {8 small}
- Score a tiny border about 1/4 cm along the inside edge, taking care not to cut right through. Place on parchment lined baking tray and chill for about 30 minutes, until the topping is ready.
- Gently sauté the finely sliced onions in 1tsp butter and 1 tbsp olive oil until golden brown and caramelised. Reserve in a bowl.
- Toss the halved cherry tomatoes with the basil, garlic, 1 tbsp olive oil, vinegar, salt & pepper. Taste and adjust flavours. Set aside for a little while for the flavours to mature, about 10-15 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 200C.
- Take pastry out of fridge. Divide the caramelised onions between the bases, ensuring they stay within the scored edges.
- Give the tomatoes a good stir, and top the onions with about 5-6 halves each, cut side up. Sprinkle with a little sea salt.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and puffy.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
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Deeba @ PAB
About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.
36 Comments
Srimathi
Such beautiful photos. I am always amazed at the way you present food. I love what you see through your camera. The tarts looks absolutely delicious. Nice Post.
Suma
Beautiful flavors !caramelized onion specially tastes fab with puff pastry, I am loving having rough pastry in the freezer! Makes me always think what I can do with it 🙂 Gorgeous pictures, makes me want to reach out for my puff pastry!
Rekha
Deeba! …What are you upto??? …tempting all of us to eat such sinful stuff..not good ;)… please stop posting such droolworthy pics…my Teen is going on hunger strike ..says if you are not going to make them today…I am not going to eat anything else :))
Sneha
I adore caramelized onions! Once made this rustic onion tart – caramelizing the onions with a little bit of balsamic vinegar – it turned out beautifully.
baker in disguise
Beautiful photographs!! I am looking at your tarts and wondering if adding a bit of feta to the filling would be good or would it be too much??
Deeba @ PAB
I love a bit of feta in everything, well almost everything. I’m sure it would taste great.
Smita
What a lovely array of colors & flavors !!! I always love ur culinary innovations …
chinmayie @ love food eat
Your styling, composition and of course props make your photos fabulous! Love these tiny bites, so full of color and flavor 🙂
Rosa
Those tartlets are wonderful! A delicious snack.
Nice pictures and styling!
Cheers,
Rosa
Tracyann0312
I never tried to make caramelized onion. I should try it once to see if the flavor could really explode to your mouth. I love the photos of the cooked food, excellent job Peefa. Thanks for sharing the recipe you have. Maybe I should start to love culinary innovations now.
ramya
Love the idea….so basic yet bursting with flavours and colours!And your clicks…they make me wanna dive into the laptop screen!!
Janine
Having puff pastry in the fridge is indeed dangerous! Love what you did with the tomatoes and onions this time – I’ve always liked onions tomatoes and basil together 🙂
belllii
I really enjoy these kind of dishes Deeba!
Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen
It’s amazing how onions can transform themselves into such sweetness isn’t it? Lovely tarts.
Mukta Varma
Hi!I have just received the versatile blogger award and as per the rules i am supposed to pass it on to 15 fellow bloggers I liked. I have been a frequent visitor of your blog and really enjoy reading it. I would like to nominate your blog for “The Versatile Blogger Award” for its great content and versatility.
Sarah, Maison Cupcake
These sound incredible, I did something similar at Christmas and couldn’t stop eating them!
Shirley
I Love Carmelized onions Deeba , I add them as a base to My Daily’ ‘Bhaji’s’ . Like Okra and Karela Lol , I even add them to my Grill cheese toast 🙂 simply delish .!!
Have made a similiar recipe a while back with tomatoes , onions, oregano and mozzarella on puff pastry squares .
Your cherry tomatoes and carmelized onions tarts remind me of them .
Pictures are awesome as usual .
Barbara @ Barbara Bakes
They look heavenly. It would be dangerous for me to have puff pastry in the house!
Julie
OMG! Your photos are stunning! If your Tartlettes are just half as tasty, you’re all good! 🙂
Tamara
I absolutely love flavors you used in this dish. Somewhat rustic looking and delicious. Caramelized onion are out of this world 🙂
Ameena
The younger me never thought I’d say this but I love carmelised onions! I do not love how long they take to make though, so I usually just eat them at restaurants. But this looks delicious! I love the combo of tomatoes and onions. Great job Deeba!
Krizelle
What a great collection! I love the photos you got here,especially that food.. Its so delicious…
Brian @ A Thought For Food
There’s just such wonderful depth that you get in caramelized onion… as you demonstrate here. This looks wonderful!
Helene
Wonderful appetizer! I love making caramelized onion especially for French Onion Soup.
thelittleloaf
I totally agree with that quote at the top – a world without tomatoes would be a much less wonderful place! These tartelettes look divine – anchovy, pastry and tomato is an amazing combination 🙂
hosting geek
Generally a good picture is half of what the author wanted to say to the reader. In your case you succeed at all 100%. Thanks, appetizing.
Sukanya
These tangy and sweet cherry tomatoes really makes the world a beautiful place and those tartlets looks so pretty and refreshing. Enjoyed your photography and specially your props, very envious collection you have.
Thanks for visiting my tiny blog, it was great pleasure.
Namitha
Oh my ! That’s an awesome savory tart ! and oh yes, caramelized onion, I love them,but never had it in a tart before. I love that metal bowl that you have cherry tomatoes in,so pretty !
divya bhaskar
Hi, I am new here and the very first recipe that I clicked here was this. To tell the truth, I am floored with your cooking style. I never knew so many varieties can be done with baking. I had no idea that baking can be so experimental and moreover you can make such exquisite cuisines with one type of cooking – baking. It’s great to see that you have mastered the art of baking. It is a very critical task and I would love to master the art of baking. Keep baking.
Divya Bhaskar
MyGrahak.com
Kiran @ KiranTarun.com
Amazing recipe, beautiful styling and props — it’s mouth watering just browsing through this photos 🙂
Cinnamon&Thyme
Perfect :)! I love savory tarts, thank you for sharing the recipe :).
Greetings,
Ana
Vicky
This sounds delicious. Puff pastry is so convenient to have on hand and can make for a great quick meal fix. Especially with caramelized onions and cherry tomatoes I’m sure this is exceptional!
doublecream
Thank you very much for sharing this recipe! I tried it last night and WOOOOW! We all loved it!
Denial
Thanks for Sharing the recipe…perfect blog…