Plenty: Caramelized Garlic Tart

Tim gave me the most beautiful and delicious looking cookbook for Christmas.  It’s called Plenty and is a vegetarian cookbook from renowned London chef Yotam Ottolenghi.  As I paged through the book for the first time, I literally wanted to make and eat every dish!  The book is organized by vegetable and the first recipe I tried was the Caramelized Garlic Tart from the “Funny Onions” chapter.  Funny onions includes leeks, onions, and garlic.

The description leading up to the Caramelized Garlic Tart states, “I think this is the most delicious recipe in the world!”.  That’s quite an expectation to set but I must say the tart was amazing!  So different and absolutely delicious.

For the tart I used Dufour frozen puff pastry which is so flaky and buttery.  For the cheeses, I used a chevre for the soft goat cheese and goat gouda for the hard goat cheese.

I served the tart with an interesting salad, featuring capers, sundried tomatoes, a few kinds of lettuce, radishes, and a nice lemon vinaigrette, also from Plenty.  Enjoy this as a vegetarian dinner or a delicious brunch!

Caramelized Garlic Tart
Plenty, Yotam Ottolenghi

• 13 oz puff pastry
• 3 medium heads of garlic, cloves separated and peeled
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 3/4 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp chopped thyme
• 1 tsp chopped rosemary
• 4.5 oz soft goat cheese (such as chèvre)
• 4.5 oz hard goat cheese (such as goat gouda)
• 2 eggs
• 6 1/2 tbsp heavy cream
• 6 1/2 tbsp crème fraîche

Equipment: 11 inch fluted tart pan with removable bottom

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Roll our the puff pastry and line the tart pan with it. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.

Cover the pastry with waxed paper and pie weights or dried beans.  This is important because you don’t want the puff pastry to puff up so much that there isn’t any room for the filling. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the beans and then cook for an additional 5 to 10 minutes until golden. Once done, set aside to cool.  Leave oven on.

For the caramelized garlic – put the garlic cloves in a small saucepan and add enough water to  cover it entirely. Let it simmer for 3-4 minutes, then drain completely. Heat the pan again, add the olive oil and fry the garlic cloves in it on a high heat for a couple of minutes. Add the balsamic vinegar and the water and bring it to a boil. Turn down the heat, and let it simmer for 10 minutes.  Add the sugar, rosemary, thyme, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.  Continue simmering on a medium flame for 10 minutes, or until all the liquid has evaporated and the garlic cloves are coated in a dark caramel syrup.  Set aside.

For the custard – Whisk together the eggs, cream, crème fraîche, salt and pepper in a bowl.

To assemble the caramelized garlic tart – scatter whatever cheese you’re using and the garlic on the bottom of the tart. Pour the custard over.  Reduce oven temperature to 325.  Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the tart filling is set and the top is golden brown.  Remove from oven and let cool a little.  Take tart out of the pan and garnish with a few sprigs of thyme.