French Brie and Roasted onion Tartine (Serves 2 people)

Ingredients

• 1 whole French Brie

• 1 baguette (up to one day old)

• 4 red onions

• 1 bunch fresh basil

• 1 clove garlic

• ¼ tsp dried chilli flakes

• 2 sprigs thyme

• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

• 1 tbsp brown sugar

• 1 tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 180°C. Peel the onions and cut in half through the root. Leave the root intact and slice each half into eights. Scatter onto a baking tray. Add the chilli flakes, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and sugar onto the onions. Coat well and season.

Roast the onions in the oven for 35 minutes, turning from time to time to make sure they don’t over-colour.

Slice the baguette in half as you would a sandwich. Separate both halves and rub the inside of the bread with the garlic cloves. Drizzle with olive oil and lightly toast under a grill for 2-3 minutes. Once the onions are cooked, lay them on the toasted baguette.

Place 3-4 whole basil leaves on top of the onions.

Slice the Brie and cover the onions, don’t leave any gaps of bread as these parts will burn. Sprinkle fresh thyme leaves onto the Brie and season with black pepper.

Place the tartine under a hot grill until all the Brie has melted. Serve immediately.

French Emmental, smoked lardons and roasted cherry tomato quiche

Ingredients

• 150g French Emmental cheese, grated

• 4 whole eggs

• 200mls double cream

• Pinch nutmeg

• 200g smoked lardons

• 2 sprigs fresh thyme

• 1 pinch paprika

• 1 sheet pre-rolled shortcrust pastry

• 10 cherry tomatoes, halved

• 2 cloves garlic

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Line a 22cm tart case with the pre-rolled shortcrust pastry. Chill in the fridge for 20 minutes before blind baking in a preheated oven for 10 minutes. Once blind baked, turn the oven down to 160°C and leave the case to one side until needed.

Line a tray with greaseproof paper and place the halved cherry tomatoes onto it. Scatter them with fresh thyme, a drizzle of olive oil and place in an oven at 160°C for 30-40 minutes. Once they are cooked and slightly shrivelled, remove from the oven and allow them to cool.

Heat a large frying pan. Add in the lardons with the two garlic cloves. These should be slightly crushed using the back of your knife but still intact as they will be discarded after the lardons have been fried.

Once the lardons start to turn golden brown and crispy, turn off the heat and drain onto absorbent paper to remove any excess fat. Discard the garlic.

Mix the double cream, eggs,

– See May Society Magazine for more recipes