It’s a good thing I made a few dishes last weekend. It was a very busy start to the week so having something to warm up was really, really nice. And tasty. But later in the week I made a point of getting out of work on time and cooking something that I’ve been dreaming about since I saw a recipe for it a few weeks ago – Caramelized onion tart with roasted tomatoes and goat cheese.

First step in this was acquiring a good, mild goat cheese. When Mom and I went to the farmers market last weekend I made a quick stop to the cheese shop and found a super rich, really creamy goat cheese.

This one has a nice herby quality but it is such a mild flavor it becomes difficult to stop eating it. I briefly debated about a whole wheel vs a half wheel but, really, it’s goat cheese. Whole wheel. It’s not like we won’t eat it. So … The tart.

Step one, start to caramelize some onions. There are two tricks to this I find – use more than you think you will and be patient. Very, very patient. Despite what some recipes say, you cannot rush caramelizing onions and it takes a good 45 minutes to get them right. Medium heat and judicious stirring.

In the meantime, the tomatoes.

I picked up some really pretty yellow and red cherry tomatoes last weekend so I used those with herbs (thyme, oregano, salt and pepper) and roasted them for about 20/25 minutes.

After the tomatoes came out, I popped in the puffed pastry shells. Yes, I could have made a dough or I could have use regular sheets of puffed pastry, but these looked so cute I just decided to go for it. But once they puffed, I took the tops just in time for the onions to be done. So … little rounds of goat cheese on the bottom, caramelized onions in the middle and topped with the tomatoes. Back in the oven for fifteen minutes or so and …. Dinner.

Friday I went much simpler, and way more traditional – spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread.

Saturday was out cheese box for the month

So when John came down to see Thor with us, we had a nice repast for dinner with the cheese and some cider for me and beer for the boys.

The Midnight Moon is still one of my favorite cheeses ever. I can’t describe it, but oh wow is it good. Combined this month with an English Cheddar and a Camembert and we had a great little dinner. I included the Field of Creams and the other cheese I picked up last week so it was a lovely little dinner.

I did a puller pork today, but I’ll save that for a separate post.