This onion tarte tatin is something special. Sweet Italian cipollini onions are roasted and baked with a syrupy sherry with buttery puff pastry then finished with dollops of French onion creme on top! This is the most divine way to serve onions and you can use any sort of onion you have. This is a pushy recipe Dear Reader.
Cipollini (chip-oh-LEE-nee) onions are an absolute treat! These small Italian onions (cipollini means "little onions") are sweet onions with a distinctive round and "squashed" appearance. They have a thin, papery skin that easily comes off and were first cultivated in Boretto, Italy in the 1400's. You can use them in stews or curries like golden eschallots or pearl onions cooked whole or they can be used in a tarte tatin. But don't despair, you don't need to use cipollini onions. Any onions will do! Try yellow, white or red onions or shallots or even leeks!
Most of this tarte tatin cooking process is hands off time and I designed it that way because I had a lot on on the day that I made this. You can do this in parts and ever since devising some tips to making an easy tarte tatin (use a springform tin and golden syrup instead of making a caramel) then I have been known to whip up tarte tatins at a moment's notice. The only thing I won't compromise on is the butter puff pastry. It must be a butter puff pastry and not a regular one that doesn't contain butter but vegetable fat instead. Supermarket butter puff pastry comes in packs of 3 and is more expensive but worth it in the end. I have to admit that I swooned over this tarte tatin. It was sweet, salty and with a delicious French onion creme too. Plus I felt like I had made something to showcases these gorgeous Cipollini onions that I had languishing in my kitchen.
Speaking of things in my kitchen, I'm going to share some other new things in my kitchen. This is part of the In My Kitchen series hosted by the delightful Sherry where we show you interesting and new things. These are mostly all goodies from my friends Valentina and Monica.
How cute is this box that Valentina sent me? She's an artist so she drew herself and added some googly eyes because honestly googly eyes make everything funny.
In the box she sent me some of her homegrown lemonades and lemons which I love. I always go on about home grown citrus and how good it is but it's a treasure. It's juicier, has more pips (great for planting or making jams) and because it isn't sprayed the skins are great for home made limoncello or recipes that use a lot of zest like this orange cake (that could easily be made into a lemon cake).
These chips are from Monica. She knows how much I adore potato chips and she found these Quillo chips at her local fruit and veg store (St Peters Fruit World). The Spanish ham ones are good although a bit too salty for me but holy heavens those fried egg chips are sooo good! They taste exactly like the crispy edge of a fried egg! Although super ridged chips like Ruffles are my favourite and these are like kettle chips, a lot of them are folded over which makes for a super crunchy texture which I love. Clearly you do not want to get me started on the subject of potato chips because I will not shut up...
Monica also gave me these noodles which are great to have in the pantry as they come with a sauce sachet too. And this Sambal Roa was so delicious. It is a tea smoked sambal that has XO sauce vibes as there's so much flavour. I love it as it is with dumplings, on top of chicken or noodles or even mixed with mayonnaise for a dipping sauce. You can buy it at a few different places online like Mamijekz.
As Valentina and I can't see each other because our LGAS are too far apart we just send each other packages of food. She sent me some more home grown citrus which we can't get enough of as well as some home grown parsley. She also popped in two tahinopitas which are sweet Cypriot pastries made with tahini. They are so delicious! They remind me of halva and other sesame sweets.
And the last thing are actually from a lovely local company called L'Jute, a female owned company started by designer Esther Roach. These are sturdy, reusable jute shopping bags with clever, punny names like Givencheese Paris, Ray-Bun, Blueberry London and Louis Wonton although my favourite is Giorgio Pastrami shown above! Compared to regular reusable supermarket shopping bags they're 45% larger, 165% more material for better durability and have 8mm thicker handles for easier carrying. They're great for having in the back of your car for supermarket runs and make me smile every time I use them.
So tell me Dear Reader, what makes you smile nowadays? Have you ever seen cipollini onions before? Do you make tarte tatins often?
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