dinner date - fig and goat's cheese tart

This tart was inspired by the goat's cheese frittata with port and black pepper caramelised figs on Nessie's blog. I made it for dinner last Sunday night for our first dinner back at home after two months away. It was probably a little ambitious for a "first dinner" given all the steps involved: making the pastry, chilling it and baking it blind, preparing the figs, caramelising the onions, and roasting the potatoes, then assembling it all... it took several hours from start to finish, (including chilling time for the pastry) and by the time I slipped it into the oven I was exhausted. So exhausted that it wasn't until the tart was nearly cooked that I noticed the goat's cheese still sitting on the bench! So it had to be crumbled on top at the end instead.

I didn't even notice the lack of cheese when I took this photo before baking:

Next time I make this I'll use less figs (maybe 50g) or leave out the caramelised onions. For the quantity of eggs/cream I used there was too much sweetness from the figs and onions combined. It tasted a little bit like dessert rather than the main course!

Here are some rough instructions:

Line a rectangular tart tin with your favourite homemade pastry (or bought pastry to save time). Bake blind for 15 minutes then remove blind-baking material and leave to cool.

Prepare your figs - I used Nessie's recipe and used red wine instead of port. Half the recipe will be plenty, especially if using caramelised onions too.

Caramelise 2-3 onions or use the bought stuff.

Peel and cube 2-3 potatoes (I used Agrias because I love them). Roast in a little oil for 20-30 mins at 200 degrees Celsius or until cooked through.

Beat 2 eggs with 2 tablespoons of cream and season with S&P and a little thyme.

Crumble 60g of soft goat's cheese.

Now assemble - place the figs, onions, potato and cheese into the prepared tart case, pour over the egg mixture and bake for 20-30 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.

If you can, leave to cool for half an hour before eating. I couldn't - it was nearly 9pm by the time my tart came out of the oven! We ate the tart with a few green leaves mixed with some balsamic vinegar and olive oil which was a suitably plain accompaniment for a tart which perhaps had a few too many ingredients crammed into it!