Onion And Mushroom Tart

This was a massive beast, and it fed us for two days. I have some super-sized round cake pans that work well for this, but a baking sheet would be OK too.

You'll be happiest doing this in stages with quite a bit prepared ahead. As I haven't been feeling well, I had no choice but to break up the prep work, but really, there isn't any reason to do this all at once. I also have a crappy Hotpoint stove with one large burner and three small ones, which makes it difficult to cook a frying pan full of mushrooms and a pan full of onions at the same time. Don't even ask what happens if I want to boil a pot of pasta. Hey, we learn to make do, right?

OK, I'll break this up the way I did it and I should mention that the dough will be fine prepared a day ahead and stored in the fridge. Just punch it down if it rises too much, and leave a couple hours for it to return to room temperature before baking.

For The Dough:

2 1/4 teaspoons granulated (not instant) yeast
2 cups warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons plain salt
1/4 cup olive oil
4-6 cups bread flour

Dissolve the yeast in a large bowl with the warm water and sugar. Let proof ten minutes. Add the salt, olive oil and bread flour, a cup at a time until you have a dough that is no longer sticky. Knead until smooth. Place in an oiled bowl, turn to coat, cover and let rise 1 hour. Punch down. If storing it for later in the fridge, oil a baggie, place the dough inside and seal. If baking right away, punch down and let rest twenty minutes before fitting in pan. Place dough in pan and fill as directed later in recipe.

For The Onions:

4 large yellow onion, sliced thin
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon dried thyme

Heat oil and butter in a large pan over medium heat. Add onions, salt and sugar. Cover, and cook 30-40 minutes until carmelised. I'd check it after fifteen minutes and give it a stir. You'll want to reduce the heat as the onions cook down. When finished, stir in the thyme. If not using them right away, get them into the fridge immediately to prevent food borne illness.

For The Mushrooms:

2 pounds mushrooms, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons dried sage
a generous splash of sherry
Salt and Pepper

Cook the mushrooms in a large frying pan over medium heat with the oil, butter and sage. When they are nearly done, add the sherry, turn up the heat to high and burn off the alcohol and any additional liquid the mushrooms have tossed off. Adjust salt and pepper. Chill immediately if not using straightaway.

For The Cheese:

I used a combination of Swiss and Pepato. If you have Gruyere, I think that would be ideal, but I had Hy-Vee brand swiss in a massive chunk that I paid four bucks for. The pepato was a bargain basement find too, but for a Wisconsin version of a sheep's milk cheese with peppercorns, it isn't bad. Not like the Rustico cheese we used to get in Boston (I still daydream about that cheese)but acceptable.

Put It All Together:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. (if your oven is dirty -hey, I'm not judging-we're all friends here, wipe out any excess char because it will smoke at that temperature). Place one rack at the lowest position and one in the middle.

Lightly oil the pan with olive oil making sure to get the sides.

You've fitted the dough into the pan. Make sure that you don't stretch it too thin because this is going to be heavy and oily-keep a good thickness in the centre of the pie. Let the sides flap over the pan because you will fold them once the topping is on.

I do fillings under the cheese. I understand that it does make the crust a bit soggy underneath, but it also keeps the toppings from getting burned up. You could certainly reverse the order-I'm not one of those obsessed pizza fanatics that insist on a single way of doing things. So pile on your mushrooms and onions and cheese to your liking. Then, fold the edge of the crust over galette style. Or not-again, it is your creation.

Let the filled tart rest another ten minutes before placing in the oven.

Bake five minutes on the lowest rack. Move to the middle, reduce heat to 425 degrees F. and continue baking about another ten minutes or until done. Remove from oven and let rest in pan five minutes.

Here's the part you don't typically see in cookbooks. The tart may actually be swimming in too much butter and oil (I hear you screaming "Impossible!" but believe me, it's true). If this happens, take a turkey baster and remove some. I like to call this step "Lyposuctioning Dinner." If you're my husband, you'll be tempted to just squirt it back into your mouth, but don't-it will still be quite hot and that's not a household accident you want to explain to the emergency room doctor.

"Iuewwanted do eeet deee phaat"-you'll sound ridiculous trying to explain with a scalded tongue. Just squirt in in the dustbin and proceed with making dinner.

If you're good at this sort of thing, go ahead and remove the tart to a rack placed over a pan. Odds are pretty good it will run a bit, do really, if you remove it from the pan, give it a couple minutes on the rack to give up some more fat (DO NOT lick pan. See logic above) before cutting and transferring to a platter.

Of course, you could just take it out of the oven and let it cool without removing the excess oil and no one will be the wiser as it has solidified.

Will serve a crowd, generously. Don't squirt hot fat in your mouth.