Blue cheese and spinach tart, with caramelized onions

This is a truly delicious tart/quiche, and although you might think, from its name and ingredients, you have stumbled upon a French recipe, it isn't, it's from an Australian cookbook, but is thankfully reproduced in Books for Cooks Favourite Recipes (from Books 1, 2 & 3).
I got three of their little books the last time I visited the bookshop in London. I'll be honest and say I always feel a little intimidated there, because the place is small and cosy, and the books don't necessarily jump at you, being all packed in the crammed bookshelves, with only a few sticking out. It makes me reel a bit, all those cookbooks! It's a bit like landing in cookbook lovers' paradise, only to find that you'd have gladly settled for purgatory, if it means having less to choose from, and knowing what you want to buy.

Anyway, I'd return there any time, and would try to make it for lunch or tea freshly made in the test kitchen. This place is such a fantastic concept, I wonder why no one in, say, Paris, has thought of it yet. You can have your cake and then get the recipe book for it. Brilliant!

So instead of buying a fancy book, or a collector's item, I choose their own books, which are made with love, and offer carefully selected recipes, chosen by them, the ultimate experts in foodie books. As they have tried and tested, then approved of all of that makes it into the books, the recipes are indeed very attractive. You could bemoan the lack of photos, but the descriptions are rather vivid and they are prettily illustrated by a friend of theirs.

I have now made this recipe twice and can only suggest you try it too. I have substituted similar ingredients, but let me just say it is important to use fresh spinach here, not to be a bl**dy snob, but because it tastes much better here, and will prevent the crust from getting soaked.

I found the recipe on another blog (to which I have secretly subscribed via my google reader) here. Hers looks better because it is baked in a smaller tin. Also I have made my own crust, and as said, changed a couple of things, but it is still delicious and also lighter on the butterfat!

For my crust, I used :

200g semi-wholewheat flour (which is a light and finely ground wholemeal flour)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 tbsps olive oil
3 tbsps light cream
some cold water

Just mix everything by hand or in a mixer, form into a flat disc, cover in clingfilm and refrigerate fro about 30 mins. You can use your hands to press it down into the tim (here, a 28 cm silicone one).

As for the changes, here I have highlighted them with a star :

4 large onions, finely sliced
*a little olive oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs brown sugar
125 g (2 large handfuls) spinach leaves
*80g blue cheese, crumbled
*100g faisselle curd cheese (you could use cream cheese or yogurt or the original mascarpone)
1 egg, beaten

The method is the same. I like this tart warm, even cold, not hot straight from the oven. And you see, everything happens : I have eaten raw grated beetroot alongside of it, and even went for seconds.

Milionaire's shortbread

The things we do when we are lonely... My loved one is away for work, my toddler threw another tantrum. It's raining... On the upside I haven't gained weight over the past four weeks (whereas I put on 4 kilos in 6 weeks between July and early August -if you're are here for the first time and wondering, I'm pregnant, that's all). Well, if they checked my weight right now it might have suddenly and very dramatically increased after sampling one time too many these outrageously delicious biscuits, but let's not think of such things, lest I reach one more time for them.

I have long lusted after this recipe, and ignored my lust because I thought it contained a hideous amount of butter and sugar. Plus I wanted to have an opportunity to bake for a larger number of people. As it turned out, I baked this on a lonely afternoon with a view to stash most of the results in the freezer. Mid-week too.

Before I started, I did some research and could find not one single lighter recipe for millionaire's shortbread, sometimes also called caramel slice. It's funny that people will go to trouble to lighten up, say, brownies, but no one seems to bother when it comes to such a decadent little treat as mill's SB. Nigella's recipe calls for 375g butter, yes THREE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE GRAMS of 82% FAT BUTTER. That's 3/4 of a pound. Ha ha! The thought makes me reel! Even Bill (Granger) has quite a lot of butter in his version (in Holiday).

So, dear reader, I have volunteered to end this attack on our already cellulite-laden thighs by taking the matter into my own hands and trying to cut out a lot of all that saturated, albeit tasty, fat. You'll notice there's a no added fat to the chocolate layer, a huge reduction in the caramel part, and quite a cut to the shortbread bottom. While the latter is not as rich as a normal shortbread, it was difficult to cut the butter further down as otherwise it would have been hard as a rock, and perhaps not so great with the soft caramel on top. Still, I'll honestly say that on the first day, I found it a bit too crackly, but after a night in the fridge, it had time to mellow with all the rich toppings so became crumblier and overall tastier. I noticed I like the chocolate better when it's still a bit cold and crunchy.

So, here we are, with a millionaire's shortbread that satisfies a craving for a luscious little treat, with a nice biscuit bottom, a rich and softish caramel layer, and a cracking good chocolate crust, yet it won't leave you feeling nauseated by all the butter it normally contains.

For the shortbread :
190g flour
30g cornflour
a good pinch of salt
50g brown sugar
90g butter

Preheat the oven on 180°C. Place everything in a processor and process until fine crumbs. Finish it off with your hands, adding cold water, a little at a time to help bind it. Push it down into a square tin (mine is about 22 cm square, that's about 8,5 inch or so). Prick it all over with a fork and bake for about 20 mins. Only the edge should start getting golden. Cool completely on a rack before topping.

Caramel :
397g tin of sweetened condensed milk
40g brown sugar
50g butter
2 tbsp golden syrup
a little sea salt

Put everything but the salt into a saucepan and heat moderately , stirring all the while. When it starts boiling, turn the heat down a little and keep stirring until it thickens and turns a deeper hue. Let it cool a little off the heat. Add a little crushed salt and mix. Spread over the cold shortbread.

Chocolate :
100g milk chocolate
100g bittersweet chocolate

Melt the chocolate on a low heat in the microwave. Mix well. Spread evenly over the caramel. Cool in the fridge then cut into squares as big or small as you please. Keep refrigerated or freeze.

Variation : of course, you can add more fleur de sel, both to the caramel and the chocolate if that's how you rock. (And if you want the Pierre Hermé touch). I personally left it out of the chocolate, but added 2 teaspoons of smooth peanut butter to 1/4 of it for the last corner of my slices. It ads another dimension, reminiscent of peanut butter cups.
You might also want to use only dark choc, or only milk choc, or to swirl some white choc for a marbled effect.