Autumn is here and with it begins the time of cosiness, colorful leaves, home cooking... One of our annual classics is the French onion cake. Just frying the pink onions from Roscoff with the hearty Vetrêche makes your mouth water. A hint of Piment d'Espelette, creamy sour cream and lush crème épaisse give this recipe a piquant, creamy freshness. Of course it works without it, but the topping of ash goat cheese rounds off the onion cake perfectly.
A delicious cheeseless alternative that we tried out as mini tartlets is the pure onion tart, optionally decorated with olives.
In Alsace - as well as in parts of southern Germany - the onion cake is usually drunk with Federweißer. We decide on “normal” white wine, which you can also try while cooking...
Ingredients:
- 250 g flour (type 550)
- 15g yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 125 ml milk
- Fleur de Sel
- 30 g salted raw milk butter from France
- 100 g Ventr êche bacon, streaky
- 1 Selles-sur-Cher AOP goat cheese with ashed rind ( hazelnutty to mushroomy, creamy and subtly sour)
- 500g Roscoff onions
- 2 eggs
- 75 ml sour cream
- 50 ml crème épaisse (or crème fraîche if desired)
- 1 tsp Piment d'Espelette
- Olives for snacking or for topping excess dough :)
Preparation:
- First, put the yeast with the sugar, the melted butter and the lukewarm milk in a mixing bowl and mix all the ingredients until the yeast has completely dissolved. Then add the flour and about 1 teaspoon of fleur de sel to the bowl and knead the dough (preferably with a food processor with a dough hook) until it forms a homogeneous mass. Then let it rise in a warm place until the dough has approximately doubled in size.
- Finely dice the bacon, peel and finely slice the Roscoff onions and fry them in a large pan with plenty of butter at a low temperature until the onions become translucent.
- Mix the eggs, sour cream, crème épaisse and piment d'Espelette in a small bowl and then add them to the pan with the onions and bacon and let the mixture set slightly.
- Knead the dough briefly again and then pour it into a springform pan. Please make sure that the edge is high enough so that there is enough space for the filling.
- Now add the prepared onion mixture to the dough.
- The Selles-sur-Cher goat cheese is sliced and placed on the onion tart.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees Celsius (if possible with top and bottom heat) for 40 minutes. To snack in the meantime and keep your hunger at bay, we recommend delicious black olives from the south of France.
The onion cake tastes best when served warm to lukewarm and enjoyed with a cool wine. We recommend two wines that go perfectly with it:
Number one is the Alento Branco “Light yellow in color with aromas of citrus and mineral notes, harmonious in the mouth with a well-integrated acidity that gives freshness and length to the wine.”
Our second recommendation is the Moscatel Galego Uivo (Douro) . “Forget Riesling, Sauvignon and Chardonnay for a moment and discover this Moscatel as your summer drink of choice!.”
With this recipe and the perfectly harmonizing wines, you are guaranteed a wonderful evening. Enjoy autumn with all its colors and delicacies.
The team at Maitre Philippe & Filles wishes you Bon Appetit!
