Cheap Easy Meals – Onion and Thyme Tart

I figure its time for some healthy quick recipes in this series of cheap easy meals.  I’m looking at some quick healthy meals that are suitable for lunch or supper.  Alone they make fine lunches, but with the addition of some vegetables or salad and potatoes or bread they make great supper dishes too.

To start we’ve got a really simple Onion & Thyme Tart recipe.  Yes there is pastry involved but this is a pretty damp scone type mixture that doesn’t even need meaning getting the rolling pin out.  This is pastry making for those who just do not make pastry.  No ‘blind baking’, rolling or crimping.  Easy pastry!

Onion & Thyme Tart

The beauty of making any kind of pastry is that folks who don’t make it think you’ve done something clever.  And, as much as men love meat, I find most men love pastry just as much. So this entirely vegetarian recipe keeps the most ardent carnivore of the male persuasion happy too.

Onion & Thyme Tart – Ingredients

For the Pastry Base

• 115g (4oz) plain flour
• 1 ½tsp baking poser
• ½tsp salt
• 40g (1½oz) cold butter or margarine*
• 90ml (6tbsp) milk

For the Filling

• 2tbsp olive oil
• 2 onions sliced thinly
• ½ tsp thyme (fresh or dried)
• 1 egg
• 120ml (4fl oz) natural yogurt (1 small pot)
• large pinch nutmeg
• salt & black pepper

*cold hard butter is a little easier to use but I tend to make this with softish cold olive oil margarine.  The pastry is mixed so quickly it really doesn’t matter.

Onion & Thyme Tart – Method

For the Pastry Base:

Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl.  Add the butter or margarine and cut into dice in the bowl.  Next with clean & cold hands quickly rub the flour and fat together until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.  Don’t worry about any odd larger bits – it all adds to the texture and flakiness of the tart.
The key is to do it quickly, it should take only a minute or two.  That way the mixture stays cold and doesn’t become too sticky to manage.

Next stir in the milk to make slightly sticky dough.

Cover with a plate and pop in the fridge while you get on with the filling.

Preheat the oven to 220ºC

For the Filling:

Heat the oil in a frying pan.  Add the sliced onions and cook slowly on a low heat for about 20 minutes.  Put a lid on to ensure the onions do not dry out.  When finished they should be soft and starting to caramelise.  Season with thyme, salt and pepper and leave to cool slightly.

Put the dough onto a well floured bored and kneed lightly so it becomes smoother and easier to work.  Pat it out into a rough 20cm (8in) circle.  Transfer this to a greased 20cm deep cake tin.  Press it into an even layer covering the base of the tin.  Cover with the cooked onions.

Beat the yogurt and egg together and spread evenly over the onion.

Sprinkle with nutmeg and bake for 25-30 minutes until the top is puffed and golden.

Leave to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the cake tin and enjoying.

Adding some buttered boiled potatoes and a green salad transforms this into a quick healthy meal.  A good way of enjoying a quiche-like meal without the cheese and more complicated pastry.

For a more self sufficient future