Tasty and quick. Inspired by one of the first recipse in the Kitchen Counter Cooking School audiobook I am listening too. The author’s point was that caramelized onions are easy to make and an easy way to add flavor. Cook up a bunch and freeze. This just stuck in my head and until I gave in and caramelized. The recipe is a mish-mash of my creativity, something I pinned a while back and stuff in the fridge that needs to go.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium onions (white, yellow, or red or mix)
• 1 shallot (not necessary, just a nice touch and I had one)
• 3 sprigs of thyme
• Butter
• Pepper, fresh ground
• Olive Oil
• Gruyere or other cheese (parmesan would work nicely too)
• Prepared pie crust or puff pastry
• Mediterranean Flare: cured kalamata olives, cherry tomatoes, anchovy paste (or filets)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Melt butter with olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, shallots and thyme, and cook until onions are golden and soft, about 10 minutes but depends on how much onion you are working with
3. Roll out the pie crust or puff pastry. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. For pie crust, roll up edge a bit and for puff pastry slice a border around the edge but just running knife about an inch from the edge, but not cutting through.
4. Pop into oven and back for about 5 minutes for pie crust and little longer with puff pastry (until begins to rise). This is a “pre-bake” don’t over do it.
5. Remove from oven and spread about 1-2 teaspoons of anchovy paste (a little dab’ll do ya) and drizzle with olive oil and a touch of cheese if you like. I like cheese and this allows me to “hide” some from the hubby. J
6. Arrange onions over crust. Top with olives, tomatoes, some more thyme and anchovies if using filets instead of paste. Add gruyere or other cheese. If you have some onions left over, freeze them!
7. Bake for 10-15 minutes until crust looks about done. This will vary if puff or pie..
8. For the last minute or so, turn on the broiler and finish off the tart, getting some nice browning and roast on the tomatoes.
9. Finish with a turn or two of fresh ground pepper. I wouldn’t use salt as the olives and anchovies are pretty salty.

We served with an over-easy egg and grilled sweet peppers. Yum!