Monday 13 July 2009

in which something is afoot

My son has started being very difficult to get to sleep and put down for a nap and I am finding it particularly hard to stay patient as I am so use to him being so good at nap/bed time. since 3 months old he has been able to settle himself and would sleep from 7pm-7am so for him to start acting up now I am finding it hard to adjust. He is breaking my heart today, playing up, doing things he knows he isn't allowed to do (like swinging on the curtains) and I hatehate having to be tough/firm on him, but I know I can't just let him run amok... It breaks my heart though because I don't want him to think I'm a mean mummy... Like I said, hard to adjust.

last night son wouldn't go to sleep until 9pm which means Husband and I don't eat until 10pm which means we go to bed still feeling full which means no sex for yours truly. It's a hard life.

Maybe his acting like this has something to do with the twilight-zone like atmosphere in our garden as of late. On Friday morning I woke up to find a ratty old garden glove (not one of ours or our neighbors) sat in the middle of our lawn, Husband disposed of it by throwing to down the side of the shed (Where he throws all things I ask him to take to the dump/get rid of. So helpful). Every morning that glove has reappeared smack in the middle of our lawn, every day husband chucks it again down the side of the shed, and then again that following morning it will be lying in the middle of the garden as if nothing was ever done about it. Spooky.

Last night while husband was struggling to get Son to bed I decided to make husband's most favorite treat; caramelized red onion and goats cheese tarts. I've never made them before but he always orders them in restaurants, I had the ingredients too hand and so thought why not give the recipe a go.

On hind sight I would add maybe 1/2 - 1 tsp more of brown sugar because I found the onions weren't quiet sweet enough and I'd also use short crust pastry (although the recipe does call for puff), although husband liked the puff-pastry I would have preferred a bit of a bite too it. Oh also, as you can tell from the picture I only had that soft goats cheese in my fridge, but I would recommend the soft round one you can get that had rind so when you slice it it'll hold together.

Red Onion and Goat's Cheese Tarts

1 packet puff pastry, rolled out
4tbsp olive oil
4tbsp butter
4 large red onions, sliced thinly
1tsp brown sugar
3tsp balsamic vinegar
3tsp soy sauce
salt and pepper
200g mushrooms, sliced
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2tbsp finely chopped parsley
100g soft goats cheese

Preheat the oven to 200c/gas mark 6. Line four greased 15cm flan tins with pastry (I used a tart tin :P)

Heat 1sbsp of the olive oil and half the butter in a saucepan, add the onions and over with lid. Leave to cook for 15 minutes over a low heat, stirring occasionally.
Add the sugar and allow to cook until the onions begin to caramelize.
Add the vinegar and soy sauce, stir and leave to cook until onions begin to sweat. Season to taste.

Heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil and the remaining butter in another saucepan. Add the mushrooms and garlic and gry until the mushrooms are golden bron. Add the mushrooms to the onion mixture, along with the parsley.

Fill the pastry cases with the filling and place two slices of goats cheese over each tart. Sprinkle the remaining olive oil over each.

Bake tarts for 5-8 minutes until the cheese starts to brown. Serve with rocket salad and a drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

this looks awesome. i have seen little premade tart cases (not sure if its puff pastry or shortcrust) near the puff pastry in tesco, which would make this even easier. i think my hubbs would like this to. good one! So, now that you have been producing all this baked goodness, is hubby taking you to laduree??? :D

Eve said...

Premade? oooh, I can't resist me a bit of cheating! :)

I dropped a subtle hint last night actually. Went something along the lines of "take me to laduree or else"! :) He was quiet receptive and pay day is friday so fingers crossed!

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