Travels Create Tasty Food Memories: A Culinary Journey To Southern France
I miss traveling. I miss boarding an airplane or better yet, a ship to whisk me away to new places or favorite destinations. I miss exploring new sights, wandering ancient streets, tasting unfamiliar flavors plus those I adore, visiting colorful outdoor markets that provide a window into what locals cook and eat, and visiting museums with a sense of awe as wonders of civilizations and cultured are unveiled.
And yet, memories of past travels are as near as my kitchen, for it’s there that I recreate the dishes and flavors I experienced during prior excursions. One of my more recent trips was a luxurious 10-day cruise from Athens to Barcelona, made even more exciting because the executive culinary director for Oceania Cruises is none other than my PBS colleague, Jacques Pepin. Every meal was out of this world, whether in the main dining room or one of the specialty restaurants.
When we flew into Athens, Randy and I cast aside our jet lag long enough to savor plates of grilled chicken kabobs served with tzatziki, rice, and fluffy skillet potatoes in a tiny sidewalk café just steps from ancient ruins. The following day, we dined in style with longtime friend, renown chef, and cookbook author Vefa Alexiadou. After absorbing as much of Athens as possible in three days, our group boarded the ship and set off for Santorini, Ephesus, Sicily, Amalfi, Rome, Florence, Monte Carlo, Marseille, and Barcelona. Each port revealed architectural, cultural, and culinary treasures, but after living in Paris and later returning on multiple occasions, it’s in France that I feel most at home, so I fell in love with our stop in Southern France.
Once docked in Monaco, we immediately departed with friends for Nice. Wandering through the outdoor market, the intoxicating fragrance of lavender was everywhere, replaced only by the heady aroma of cheese, yeast breads, ripe fruits, tomatoes of every color, and booths filled with flowers. Packages of sun-dried tomatoes were also plentiful, which ultimately inspired the creation of my recipe for Caramelized Onion and Gruyere Tart Provencal.
Onion tarts are quite popular in France, though ingredients change depending on the region. In the Alsace, which lies in eastern France and borders Germany and Switzerland along the Rhine River, onion tarts are commonly made with bacon. In a nod to southern France and the Provence region we visited, where the sun is warm and sun-dried tomatoes are plentiful, I’ve left out the bacon, added a generous topping of Gruyere cheese, and garnished the tart with sun-dried tomatoes. The intense flavor and chewy texture of these tomatoes provide a sublime counterpoint to the sweet caramelized onions and earthy, melted cheese.
I think it’s such fun when the same ingredients I encounter during my travels are as close as my local markets. I purchased imported Swiss Gruyere for my tart at the farmers market last week in Dillon, Colorado. The onion filling and cheese are cradled in puff pastry, which quickly rises and turns golden brown and flaky in the oven. For Sunday brunch, a light supper, or sliced into small wedges and served as an appetizer, this Caramelized Onion and Gruyere Tart Provencal brings a little bit of France to the American table, while transporting me back to a sidewalk café in Provence. I can hardly wait to host my next cruise group in Summer 2023. Oh, the flavors!
-Christy
Caramelized Onion and Gruyere Tart Provencal
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 large sweet onions, peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 large cloves garlic, peeled and diced
- 1/8 teaspoon coarse kosher or sea salt
- 1 sheet frozen puffed pastry, thawed and chilled
- 1/3 pound Gruyere cheese, coarsely grated, about 2 ½ cups
- 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, finely grated
- Sun-dried tomatoes
- 1 egg, beate
In a large skillet over medium heat, add olive oil and butter, and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Add onions, toss to coat with oil and butter, and saute 12 to 15 minutes until the onions are golden brown. Stir in garlic and salt, cook 1 minute more, and set the pan aside to cool, about 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Unfold the puff pastry on a cutting board, and with a rolling pin, gently seal the creases. Transfer the pastry to a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Make half-inch indentations around the perimeter of the pastry with a table knife, taking care not to cut all the way through the pastry. Transfer the onion mixture to the center of the pastry and spread it to within ½-inch of the pastry’s edge.
In a medium bowl, combine the Gruyere and Parmesan cheeses. Sprinkle evenly over the onions and garnish with sun-dried tomatoes. If the tomatoes are packed in liquid, drain them on paper towels before garnishing. Brush the edges of the pastry with beaten egg and bake 18 to 20 minutes until the cheese is melted and the pastry is puffed and golden brown.
Transfer the tart to a cutting board, slice, and serve while hot.
Yield: 8-10 appetizer slices or 6 brunch servings