Last updated on September 7th, 2022
This Caramelized Onion and Pear Tart starts with puff pastry and ends with melted gorgonzola! An easy appetizer that looks impressive enough for guests!
Sometimes you create a recipe for no other reason than you want to combine all of your favorite ingredients. You see these ingredients just sitting around your house and the urge strikes to throw them all together in one dish and see what you come up with!
A WINNER!
That’s what you come up with! I just told you recently what a fan I am of thinly sliced pears with melted cheese when I shared a Grilled Ham and Pear Sandwich. And since I’m such a fan of that combo, I wanted to try my hand at it with a different twist.
This puff pastry flatbread is topped with caramelized onions, thinly sliced pears, and melted gorgonzola cheese. I swear, just the description made me fall in love before I even made it!
How to Make a Puff Pastry Tart
I just adore puff pastry for so many reasons.
- It’s so easy to keep in your freezer for unexpected company or just to treat yourself!
- You don’t really need to plan ahead for it. Just about 20 minutes to let it come to room temperature is all you need and that means you can just set it out right when you start getting your other ingredients ready.
- It’s really affordable for how many you get in the box.
- It’s not really something that’s easy to make yourself, so go ahead and just give yourself the shortcut by buying the box from the freezer section at your grocery store.
- It goes with savory recipes AND sweet recipes! No one likes an ingredient that can multi-task better than I do!
- It’s super impressive looking for very minimal effort!
For this recipe, as your onions are caramelizing, just set your puff pastry out from the freezer. As I mentioned above, you only need about 20 minutes for it to come to room temperature.
You want it thawed enough that you can roll it out easily without it thawing. I usually line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and once the puff pastry has thawed enough, roll it out on the parchment paper.
The trick is that you don’t want to set it out too far ahead of time. It needs to stay fairly cold so it will rise and puff up. Keep track of your time, because 20 minutes is about key for my house.
Once you have it rolled out, you can see in the picture below how I scored the edges. I just used a pizza roller to make light indents where I wanted my “crust” to be. Be sure not to go the whole way through… you’re just scoring the top of the puff pastry.
This isn’t necessary and you’ll be fine if you don’t do this step, but it does give you a nice puffed edge on your finished piece.
It also helps you know where to place your toppings so that you leave a little room for fingers to pick them up to eat.
How do You Caramelize Onions
Caramelized onions have got to be one of my top 5 favorite foods! They go so well with nearly any meal, and sometimes I just eat them plain!
I pretty much only caramelize my onions in a cast iron skillet. You’ll have many different results if you use cast iron versus a nonstick skillet. It will give you a greater richness and depth of flavor and helps caramelize them more.
I use yellow or sweet onions for this because the process helps bring out the natural sweetness in this type of onion. By using this cooking process, you don’t really need to add anything to your onions. The slow caramelization will bring out the natural sweetness of the onions.
Start by slicing them into strips. They will cook down so you don’t want to slice them too thin but you don’t want chunks either. The thinner you cut your onions, the faster they will burn. I cut mine around 1/8″ or so.
I love to use butter to fry my onions, but butter burns quickly. To help combat this, just add a splash or two of olive oil to your pan. You really just want the bottom of your pan coated in the melted butter and the oil, so maybe a teaspoon or so of each.
The key to perfect caramelized onions is to cook them low and slow. High heat will result in charred onions. Too low of heat means you’ll be standing there for an hour or so. I set mine over medium and just make sure to stir frequently so that they don’t burn to the bottom of the pan. Depending on how well done you like your onions, this will take about 15-30 minutes.
Towards the end of cooking them, I add a small splash of water. This will help you scrape all those yummy bits off the bottom of the pan and give it that final caramelization.
Assembling Your Tart
Once you have your thawed puff pastry rolled out on your baking sheet, top it with the caramelized onions.
Then thinly slice a pear and lay it on top of the onions. Sprinkle with about 4 ounces of crumbled gorgonzola cheese.
Then bake at 400 degrees for about 20-25minutes. You want the pastry to be golden brown and the cheese to be melted.
Looking for More Tart Recipes:
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Caramelized Onion, Pear & Gorgonzola Tart
Ingredients
- 1 sheet Frozen Puff Pastry
- 2 medium Onions sliced
- 1 Pear thinly sliced
- 4 oz. Gorgonzola Cheese
- 1 tsp. Butter
- 1 tsp. Olive Oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400.
- Add butter and olive oil to a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Once heated, add sliced onions to the pan and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently. Continue cooking until brown and caramelized, anywhere from 15-40 minutes depending on how well done you like your onions.
- While the onions are cooking, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Remove puff pastry from freezer and place on parchment paper to thaw.
- When onions are done cooking, unroll the puff pastry. Top with caramelized onions, pear slices and gorgonzola cheese.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until the puff pastry is golden brown. Cut into slices and serve!
Notes
In conclusion, this Caramelized Onion and Pear Tart with Gorgonzola is the perfect dish to serve for a special occasion. The tart is easy to make and it is sure to impress your guests. So, if you are looking for a delicious and elegant dessert, be sure to try this pear gorgonzola tart.
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