SOS - save our shallots day 2

Yesterday I made an onion tart, using a pound of shallots! The great thing about growing your own vegetables is you can be extravagant like that. There is no way I would have used shallots like that if I'd bought them from the supermarket.

Onion Tart

For the pastry
4 oz (110g) plain flour
4 oz (110g) wholemeal flour
4 oz (110g) margarine
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
A little bit of grated cheese

For the filling
1lb (450g) onions (or shallots!)
Oil/butter for frying
9 fl oz (250ml) single cream
2 eggs
Cheddar cheese
Salt & pepper

Sift the flours into a bowl and work into a breadcrumb consistency with the maragine using fingertips. Add the mustard powder and cheese then enough water to bind it into a soft dough. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for half an hour. In the meantime, peel and finely chop the onions then fry with the oil/butter for 20 minutes until golden. Preheat the oven to 190°C and grease a suitable tin. Roll out the pastry and place in the tin then trim the edges to neaten. Place greaseproof paper over the pastry and weight it down with baking beans/dried rice etc. Blind bake the pastry for 15 minutes. Tip the cooked onions into the pastry case. Beat the eggs and stir into the cream then pour this mix over the onions. Season with salt and pepper then grate cheese over the top to cover the tart. Bake the tart at 200°C for 30 minutes until golden and set. Serve immediately or allow to cool, cut into portions and freeze.

I have a dairy intolerance which means that, although I can eat some dairy every day eating, too much causes my digestive system problems. In this recipe I used Pure sunflower margarine and Alpro single cream soya alternative. This allowed me to use real cheese (for which there is no decent substitute) and to enjoy the tart without incurring problems later.