Caramelised onion and sweet potato tart

You know when you have to 'bring a plate' to your last antenatal class and you forgot about it until that day and you have spent your weekly budget, and you're not sure what to do? But then you discover that you have an onion, and a sweet potato, and a little bit of left over mozzarella and parmesan from the weekend's lasagne. And there's some puff pastry in the freezer. And it's the depths of winter and you're supposed to be writing your thesis and you can think of nothing better than having an excuse to put the oven on?

Well, I'm sure we've all been there. Or at least somewhere entirely dissimilar to there. Fortunately, this tart is the solution to all manner of crises. It's pauper ingredients gussied up as fancy French business. It's pretty easy. And it's really scrummy. It would work with all different kinds of cheese, and using this template I'm pretty sure you could do good work with potatoes, mushrooms, and all manner of other seasonal veg.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 a large sweet potato
• 1 brown onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 50 grams butter
• splash of sherry vinegar 
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 1 big handful of grated mozzarella
• 1 tablespoon grated parmesan
• 2 sheets frozen puff pastry
• salt and pepper to season

Finely slice your onions, the thinner the better. Heat the butter in a large frying pan on a medium heat, and add the onions. Soften then for about 10 minutes until they are golden and then add the splash of vinegar and brown sugar and continue to sweat the onions for another 5 minutes.

While the onions are cooking, finely slice your sweet potato, then add it to the pan. Sautee the potato for about five minutes until it starts to soften. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Grate the cheese and toss half of it through the mixture, reserving half for the top.

Take your two sheets of puff pastry which should be properly thawed by now. Because this is Australia puff pastry only seems to come in squares, which is the wrong shape and thickness for this tart. So scrunch them into a ball, and roll them out again into a vaguely circular shape about 2 millimeters thick. Don't worry about it being neat, you can pass any wonkiness of as 'rustic'.

Tip the onions and sweet potato mixture into the centre, leaving a 2 cm border. Fold the pastry border in and sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top. Brush the pastry edges with a little milk and cook in a hot oven (220 C) for about 18 minutes.

When you remove the tart from the oven it will have puffed up into a glorious golden pouffie thing. Let it cool for a few minutes before slicing it. Da na!

Potato, tomato and onion pie

 How do you define a pie?  Because frankly, this dish is very possibly not one.  But look, shut up okay, it's full of potato and what more do you want? So it's kind of a casserole, layered like a lasagne, but in a pie dish, and crunchy on top.  It's classic peasant/student fare, and given the December Austerity Measures this should free up enough coin to subsidise the high quality cooking chocolate I need for all my Christmassy treats and not at all for gnawing on after dinner.


Ingredients:

• 2 potatoes
• 3 tomatoes
• 1 onion
• 1 teaspoon wholeseed mustard
• slice of butter
• olive oil 
• salt and pepper  

Brush a pie dish with olive oil and turn the oven on to 180 C. Melt the butter with the mustard and add salt and pepper.  Then finely slice everything.

Line the pie dish first with a layer of potatoes, then onion, then tomato.  Add half the mustardy butter mixture.  Repeat. 

Top with potato and brush the top with olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt if you know what's good for you.

Cover with foil and put in the oven.  After 30 minutes remove the foil and turn the oven up to 190.  Remove after another 30 minutes.


Consume.

Three onion and taleggio tart

I love this tart.  You don't have to be hugely into onions to love this tart.  Like my friend Ange says: "If onions were cocoa, then this tart would be chocolate".  Essentially, this tart is onions as good as they can get.  And it has creamy, stinky taleggio cheese in it. Need I say more?


Ingredients:

• Basic shortcrust pastry for the base

• Two medium to large leeks, finely chopped (just the white stalks, not the green leafy bits)
• One large spanish onion, finely chopped
• Five or six spring onions, finely chopped
• olive oil
• One egg, beaten
• about 200g of taleggio cheese, cut into smallish chunks
• 50g grated parmesan cheese 
• Salt and pepper to taste 

Heat the oven to 180 degrees.  Take you're shortcrust pastry and tip it into your greased pie tin.  Press it down with your fingers and palms to form a thin yet solid crust.  Keep pushing from the middle out until it goes all the way to the edges.  Then put the case in the oven for 10 minutes and remove while you prepare your tart ingredients.

Put a big ole slug of olive oil in a hot non-stick pan.  Add the leeks and stir for about 5 minutes on a medium heat until softened.  Then cover, and reduce the heat to low, and simmer for a further 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure the leeks are not burning.

Once the leeks are softened to almost a mush, add the rest of the onions and stir vigorously, and continue to simmer for another 15 minutes.  Then remove from the heat, add the egg, salt and pepper and mix through.  Then add the taleggio and mix until evenly dispersed.

Fill your pastry case with the onion mixture and place in the oven for 20 minutes.  Then remove the pie, and sprinkle the grated parmesan evenly over the surface, and return to the oven for a further 10-15 minutes.  Remove, slice and serve!

Ambul Thiyal (Sri Lankan Sour Fish Curry)

500g firm fish steaks cut into chunks
1 tablespoon tamarind paste
1/4 cup vinegar
1 med onion chopped
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
2 cloves finely chopped garlic
1 tsp salt
6-8 curry leaves
1 piece lemon grass or 2-3 strips lemon rind
cinnamon stick
generous shake of spices :fenugreek, pepper, chilli powder
1 1/2 cups water
generous slug of oil

Soak the tamarind in the vineger until soft, mix well so there are no lumps.
Put all ingredients into a pan and mix well. Keep for 45 mins.
Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered until fish is
cooked and gravy is thick.(DO NOT STIR) Shake pan and turn fish
pieces carefully once or twice during cooking.
Serve with white rice, and other accompaniments such as pol sambol, dahl, poppadoms and chutney.