Extremely Creamy Onion Tart

I don’t even have words for this—it’s so gooey and creamy and luscious. Not quite a quiche, not quite anything else. It’s easy to make this vegetarian by omitting the bacon and sautéing the onions in a mix of olive oil and butter.

Ingredients:

1 refrigerated pie crust

½ cup uncooked bacon, chopped

3 cups thinly sliced onions (a mandoline gets you very, very thin slices)

½ teaspoon sugar

3 eggs

1 cup heavy cream

½ cup whole milk or half and half

¼ cup sour cream

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon herbes de provence or dried thyme

A few turns of freshly cracked black pepper

A pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

1 cup processed gruyere cheese (I found mine in the deli case), finely diced

½ cup swiss cheese, shredded or finely diced

3 Tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Fit pie crust into a 8 or 9 inch pie plate and line with a piece of parchment. Place pie weights or dried beans on the parchment and blind bake the pie shell for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Remove the parchment and pie weights.  Heat a large skillet to medium low and add bacon pieces. Cook until crisp and then remove to paper towels and reserve. Remove all but 3 TB of bacon fat and reduce heat to low. Add onions and sugar. Cook, stirring often  for 15-20 minutes or until golden and soft. Watch that the onions don’t turn too dark or burn. If they start to get dark, lower the heat.  Remove from heat and let cool in the skillet. In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs, cream, milk, sour cream, salt, herbs, nutmeg and pepper. Beat with an electric mixer on high for 3 minutes (I used my stand mixer with the whisk attachment). Add the cheese to the egg mixture and then add in the cooled onions and bacon. Mix the filling well and then pour into the pie shell. If you have an extra filling that doesn’t fit into the shell, put it in ramekins that have been coated with cooking spray and cook next to the tart. Bake the tart for 50 minutes until the middle is almost set and the top is golden. Check your tart after 30 minutes—if the pie crust is getting too dark for you, cover the edges with strips of foil. Let cool slightly and serve warm.