I'm all about a tart at the moment!! Rolling out 3 new tart recipes today because it feels like the right thing to do before Easter brunch this weekend - and also it's just spring time and that means brunch is becoming a thing. First up... a Shallot and Bacon Tart
These recipes are perfect for brunch for a multitude of reasons. 1: they can be prepped ahead. 2: it's easy for people to slice and serve themselves so if you're hosting you don't have to worry about futzing over everything in the kitchen. 3: you can make then with just about any topping depending on your taste preference. This one is loaded with roasted shallots and bacon which I feel is super traditional and who's going to say no to that?!?
Let's do it!
For the full spring brunch menu - check out this post! Everything you could ever need to put together an epic brunch!
Check out these other amazing tarts:
- Cheesy Asparagus Tart
- Heirloom Tomato Tart
- Wild Mushroom Tart
- Pea and Asparagus Tart
- Tomato Confit Basil Tart
Shallot and Bacon Tart
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup cold unsalted butter cut into small cubes
- 2 tablespoons ice water
For the filling:
- 1 ¼ pounds shallots
- 3 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt divided
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper divided
- 1 large egg
- ¾ cup ricotta cheese
- ¾ cup Parmesan cheese divided
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 5 strips bacon crisped and crumbled
- 2 tablespoons chives
- Baby Kale for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F.
- To make the crust, place the flour and salt in a food processor and pulse. Drop in the butter and pulse until just barely the texture of oatmeal. Add the ice water slowly and pulse once or twice, until the dough clumps together. Turn onto a floured board and form into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, peel and remove the root ends from the shallots. Slice them in quarters and place on a small sheet pan. Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the vinegar, 1 teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper over top. Roast until the onions are soft and begin to color but still hold their shape, about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool.
- When pie dough has chilled, roll it out onto a lightly floured surface to a circle roughly 12 inches in diameter. Gently transfer to a tart ring, and fit into the ring evenly. Pierce bottom with a fork and return to refrigerator to chill another 20 to 30 minutes
- Separate the egg and transfer the yolk to a small bowl; reserve the egg white for the topping.
- Mix the egg yolk, ricotta, remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, ½ cup of Parmesan, and chives. Remove the tart shell from refrigerator. Spread the ricotta mixture evenly across the bottom of the tart shell. Nestle the shallots across ricotta base and the bacon bits.
- In another small bowl, beat the reserved egg white, heavy cream and the remaining ¼ cup Parmesan. Pour mixture evenly over top of the shallots.
- Cover the tart with foil and bake at 350°F for 40 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 15 minutes, until top is bubbling and crust is slightly brown, but not too dark.
- Toss some baby kale with lemon juice and olive oil and sprinkle over top before servings. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Can you use a premade crust? Would it be too big?
This was delicious, but not as cheesy as the picture appeared. Now that could be because I simply didn't use a tart pan and it made the shape too large, and I had to be that person and made a few substitutions because my store was out of ricotta and heavy cream, so used mascarpone and half and half, and . But the dough is super yum, and the shallots roasted beautifully.
Hi,
In the recipe, you mention mushrooms and onion but therre aren’t any in the list of ingredients. How much of them is needed? What do you make’ of them before putting them in the filling ?
Thanks very much!
onions are just the shallots!! and roasted mushrooms are optional!
Hi Gaby,
My English is quite good, but I am not sure if I understood correctly! So you roast the shallots for the tart in the oven or in a skillet on the oven??
You see..... Oven (in my translation) is the oven for baking e.g. cakes and cooking on it 🙂
Thanks for helping and greetings from Germany
Sabrina
you roast the shallots on a baking sheet in the oven before putting them into the tart 🙂