OLS Week#8: Celebrating new arrivals

This was an exciting meal, featuring four new comers to garden harvests this week: bunching onions, edamame, cherry tomatoes and carrots. In the process of cooking it, I was afraid it wasn’t quite going to come together. Not because there were mistakes or concerns, but simply the sheer amount of time it took to caramelize the onions. I felt quite certain that, if I didn’t starve to death before the meal was finished, I would certainly give up and find something else for dinner or gorge myself on corn chips until I was no longer hungry. But, I managed to persevere, and it’s a good thing too!

I forget where I found this recipe for a rustic onion tart, but I knew when I saw it that I was going to have to make it. It sounded so enchanting, and given the idea I could just “whip them up,” I was sold (This turned out to be a blatant lie!). I was also inspired by the original recipe from which this one came that used tomatoes, but I also liked the style of the first so I decided to combine them. I have in my possession a plethora of small purple bunching onions harvested last week, and also a handful of cherry tomatoes. The onions proved perfect for the recipe, I only wish I had chopped a little more. I followed the suggested recipe for the crust, dutifully caramelized onions for hours upon hours, and then combined the cheese (I used a nice flavored cheese from a local creamery – Cumberland, from Locust Hill Farms), cherry tomatoes and onions into the pastry and baked. The flavor was very nice, very warm and strong; the tomatoes were a bit acidic but the onions were sweet and woody paired with the tangy musty tones of the cheese. The tart was much richer than I had anticipated, however. On the side, I had a bit of carrot and beet salad I made earlier in the day; the recipe for this came from the most recent issue of Vegetarian Times. I also had some fresh edamame that was harvested at the start of last week. While the onions were taking their time cooking down, I dutifully shelled over a gallon of soybeans for freezing, keeping some out to eat fresh.