Challenge Butter Recipe: Onion & Parsnip Tart with White Truffle Oil

The key to making spectacular food is quality ingredients.




Challenge Dairy has rounded up some of the most yummy food blogs around, and I was lucky enough to be included. They asked each blogger to make a dish for the course assigned to them. I was asked to create an appetizer with one of their butter products.

In this recipe I used Challenge European-style Butter & Sabatino Tartufi White Truffle Oil from Marx Foods to create a rustic Onion & Parsnip Tart.

The European-style is a Grade AA butter with 83% butterfat versus 80% for regular butters. It is made by churning cream slower and longer in the age-old tradition of fine European butters. It has a creamier taste and a silkier texture and is preferred by many chefs because it makes flakier pastries, which is why I used it in the pastry for my tart.

I created the pastry with a bag of beer bread mix that my boyfriend had in this pantry (gift from last year, I suppose). This mix had spices and herbs already mixed in such as garlic, parsley, onion powder, etc. The recipe I am going to give you, I suggest that you boost your flour with some of these spices to result in a more flavorful pastry. You can also make the pastry with a compound butter by melting the butter, adding the dried spices, heating through, straining the butter and re-solidifying it. It all depends on the time you want to take.

Alternatively (to save time), you can just buy a puff pastry or a pie crust dough, and place the onion and parsnip filling in it before you bake it.

Onion & Parsnip Tart with White Truffle Oil

Begin by preparing the crust for your tart with:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 2 1/2 cups beer bread mix from pantry, as boys who do not bake have no flour on hand).
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) cold unsalted Challenge European-style butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
9 to 12 tablespoons ice water

Mix together flour, and salt in a bowl then incorporate butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender. The mix will resemble coarse meal. Pour the water evenly over the butter/flour mixture, blend in and be careful not to overwork the dough.

Chill the dough for 1/2-1 hour. In the meantime, prepare your filling.

1 yellow or red onion, small diced
1 parship, coarsely grated
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs granulated sugar
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, grated
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 380°F.

Sauté the onions in a skillet. Add salt and sugar to the onions to aid in Caramelization. When onions begin to turn translucent, add the parsnip and the minced garlic. Cook until parsnips and onions are softer. Add the wine to flavor and give the vegetables a liquid to continue their cooking. When mixture is au sec, remove from heat and add 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. Stir in and allow to cool a bit. Then add one slightly beaten egg. Thoroughly mix in and then set aside.

Remove dough from refrigerator, and roll out into a pie pan or on a flat cookie sheet. Place filling onto the tart and roll edges around and crimp however you wish.









Bake in oven until filling is set and the crust is browned. Remove and allow to cool. To serve, slice and top with more grated cheese and a drizzle of the white truffle oil. The truffle oil I used is from Marx Foods, and is basically a fine olive oil infused with the flavor and aroma of white truffles. This truffle oil should be used as a finishing touch to plated dishes because heat can alter the flavor of the oil.

This is a great appetizer to enjoy during holiday parties and would pair wonderfully with your favorite sparkling wine for New Years!

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