Carmelized Onion Tart – 50 Women Game Changers -Tracy Ryder and Carole Topalian #32

 

Caramelized Onion Tart

 

Can you believe it? We’re now at week 32 of profiling the “ 50 Women Game Changers ” outlined on Gourmet Online. I’ll take this moment to thank Mary Berger at One Perfect Bite for inviting me to take part in this group along with the other bloggers dedicated to this topic.

I am so completely awed by this week’s game changers, Tracey Ryder and Carole Topalian, and all they were able to accomplish with one idea. Ryder says that Edible communities grew out their first 16-page newsletter, “Edible Ojai.” The idea of the Edible community came to Tracy after she read Coming Home to Eat: The Pleasures and Politics of Local Foods by Gary Paul Nabhan. Gary wrote about his experience of eating only foods that came from within a 250-mile radius from where he lives in Arizona. (This may be another book for my “to read” list.) A couple of years after they wrote their first publication, the magazine had a write-up in Saveur magazine. The response was overwhelming. Tracey and Carole were hearing from people all over the country wanting to take part with Edible publications in their own areas. With such a tremendous response they set up a webpage with they message, “If you are interested in starting your own Edible publication, leave an e-mail and will get back to you.” They’ve been pretty busy getting back to those people because there are now 64 publications in six regions of the United States, including my own Phoenix area.

Courtsey Edible Communities

Each year Edible publications come out with a book that is a compilation of chosen articles from the 64 magazines. My library has several of these books, and I checked out the 2010 book Edible: a Celebration of Local Foods. I found the stories are well written, and illustrated with beautiful photographs. I was completely immersed in reading about the different farmers, wine makers, chefs, specialty stores, and the recipes, of course. I highly recommended that you check out their website to find the Edible magazine publication for your area–it’s also available free online. There are a couple of other goodies: Edible radio – and if you don’t have time to tune in you can download the podcast; and there is an Apple application for iphone, ipod, or ipad. The application links to the magazines, recipes, and to the radio archive. Thanks to Tracey Ryder and Carole Topalian, people are learning about their food and about their communities, and having a good time doing it.

The caramelized onion tart recipe is courtesy Edible Front Range (Colorado) from the book Edible: a Celebration of Local Foods (2010). Known in France as pisaladière, this tart is dairy-free and it is a also good for an anti-inflammation diet. I modified it by using fifty percent whole wheat flour and adjusting the proportions. *Note – The crust was very thick. I enjoyed the tart very much, but next time I make it I’ll use a 15-1/2 by 10-1/2 inch pan.

Prep Time: 1 hour and 10 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minute

Servings: 12 slices

Ingredients

For the Crust:

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon water (105°-115°)

1 tablespoon dry active yeast

1 ½ cup all-purpose flour

1 ½ cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

For the Filling:

¼ cup olive oil plus a little more for drizzling

3 pounds yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced

3 large clove s garlic, minced

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1 ½ teaspoons very finely chopped thyme leaves

10 oil-packed anchovy fillets, drained.

8 to 10 Nicoise or kalamata olives, drained, pitted, and halved

Procedure:

1)  In a small bowl, add the warm water and sprinkle with the yeast. Stir to blend and let it stand about 10 minutes.

2)  In a large bowl, or in a kitchen-aid bowl, add the flour and salt and blend together. Add the yeast mixture, the flour, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and then knead until it forms a smooth and elastic ball, adding flour if necessary, one tablespoon at a time. This should take about 6-7 minutes.

3)  Coat a large bowl with oil, and add the dough to the bowl, placing it face down in the oil and then face up. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise in a draft-free warm spot until it has doubled, about 1-1/2 hours. Punch down the dough again it let it rise 1 hour. (Now is a good time to start making the filling.) Lightly oil the baking pan, and then punch down the dough again and allow it to relax for 5 to 10 minutes before pressing it into the baking pan.

4) Make the filling – While the dough is on a second rise, in a large skillet or sauté pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook the onions slowly, stirring the onions occasionally and reducing the heat to low if there is any sigh of burning, until the onions are cooked down and are lightly caramelized, 45-55 minutes. Add the garlic, salt, pepper, and thyme, and cook, stirring, for one minute.

5) Pre-heat to 450° F., or if using a glass pan lower the oven to 425° F. Lightly grease a 9 by 13-inch rimmed baking sheet. Press the dough evenly into the baking pan. (I allowed it to rise once more in the pan, approximately 40 minutes.) Spread the filling over the dough, leaving a ½-inch border uncovered around the edge of the dough. Arrange the anchovies and the olives in a decorative pattern over the onions.

6) Bake the tart on the middle shelf of the oven until the bottom and the edges of the crust are golden brown. Bake 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and allow it to cool for a couple of minutes, and then remove the tart from the pan and place it on a cookie rack. Serve it warm. The author suggests serving it drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, but I found that it already had more than enough oil.

Don’t forget to check out what these other great writers and kitchen artists have cooked up this week!

Val – More Than Burnt Toast , Joanne – Eats Well With Others , Taryn – Have Kitchen Will Feed, Susan – The Spice Garden, Heather - Girlichef , Miranda – Mangoes and Chutney , Jeanette – Healthy Living ,  Mary – One Perfect Bite , Kathleen - Bake Away with Me   Sue – The View from Great Island , Barbara – Movable Feasts , Kathleen – Gonna Want Seconds,    Linda A - There and Back Again   Nancy – Picadillo , Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits ,  Veronica – My Catholic Kitchen ,  Annie - Most Lovely Things , Claudia - Journey of an Italian Cook ,  Amrit Beetles Kitchen Escapades , Alyce – More Time at the Table ,