What have I got myself into…it’s the busiest time of the year for me both work wise as well as socially and I have no idea why I agreed to make food to sell at my workplace fundraiser. It just occurred to me that I still hadn’t test-run all my recipes and my week ahead promises to be full of meetings till late at night. Sigh.
Anyway yesterday was a test of how fast I could churn out one recipe of low carb tart. From start to finish it took me just about an hour…which means that on the day of the Masterchef Carnival I either have to bake from the wee hours of the morning or I would have to pre-prepare some components of the tarts and pies the weekend before. So as a sign that the stress was getting to me I actually had a dream that I was participating in a bake-off competition that was something between Chopped and Cutthroat Kitchen. I dreamt that I didn’t have cream to make the tart filling and I had to beg other people for whatever cream they had and was given coleslaw and other stuff with some cream inside and I had to figure out if I could get enough uncontaminated cream out to make the tart. Of course I woke up in the middle of the dream and I had no way of knowing if I was successful or not. So annoying…
Anyway I think I’ve pretty much decided what I will sell for the Masterchef food carnival (and thanks to friends and cooking buddies who offered truly strange suggestions along the way!).
- Onion and Gruyere cheese tart
- Bacon and sundried tomato tart
- Spinach and salmon tart
- Smoked salmon and dill tart
- Broccoli and mushroom tart
- Shepherd’s pie with cauliflower crust
The bacon and onion tart that I posted here was simply cooking whatever I had available in the fridge, which is the wonderful thing about quiches and tarts. Whenever I’ve been asked for my quiche recipes in the past I have found it really hard to share because I usually dump in whatever is available in the fridge so it is different every time. So bacon featured in this tart because there were 3 slices of bacon left and I managed to pick up a block of near-expiry Gruyere cheese from Cold Storage at 1/2 the price. Hey it was a dry run, ok? It’s ok to use leftovers…🙄
So kid#1 (the food fussy one) gave this tart a stamp of his approval – which gives me confidence that I’m on the right track for the bake-off next week. So here’s the tart recipe for friends who have always tried to pin me down on my quiche/tart recipes but I had never been able to write it our properly for them.
Straight out of the oven 😄. By the way I’m selling these puppies for $12 each…all proceeds go to an orphanage in Cambodia.
Bacon, Onion and Gruyere Cheese Tart
Ingredients
Tart pastry
- 2 cups of almond flour
- 2 tbsp shortening or oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 large egg
Tart filling
- 1 1/2 large white onions
- 3 slices of bacon, cut into small strips
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tbsp butter
- 2 eggs
- 100g grated Gruyere cheese
- 3/4 cup cream
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180 deg C
- In a food processor, mix the almond flour, salt, shortening and egg and form a dough ball
- Roll out the dough between 2 sheets of plastic or baking paper
- Cut out and fit into tartlet pans
- Bake for 8 minutes (open bake)
- Remove from oven and set aside.
- Thinly slice the onions into rounds
- Heat up the butter in a skillet over medium heat and sauté the bacon till it starts to render fat
- Add the onions to the pan and sauté for about 20 minutes until wilted and just starting to caramelize
- Add 1/4 tsp salt, pepper and thyme to the bacon and onion mixture, then take off the heat
- Distribute the onion mixture into the 5 baked shells
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, then add the cream, cheese and 1/2 tbsp salt and mix well
- Pour carefully into the tart shells over the onion mixture
- Bake for 1/2 hour
- Can be served both hot or cooled, with a light side salad
Still Feeling Peckish 
Wow when’s the carnival? is it open to public? I work in NUS can drop by haha.
It’s on 30 Nov at NUHS tower block 12-3 pm. Organized by Paeds dept :-). Drop by if u can!
ok! so i look for the paeds booth? so the stuffs you bake will be low carb? awesome!
It’s all run by Paeds :-). Fundraiser for our patients.