Shallots – grow your own golden winter flavour (From The Argus)

Shallots – grow your own golden winter flavour

8:17am Tuesday 24th November 2009

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Shallots have to be the best kept secret of allotment life. You rarely see them in shops and when you do, they are priced as if they were actually made of gold! And yet, they are absurdly easy to grow, easy to store and utterly gorgeous to eat.

Shallots grow like onions, they need about six months in the ground, so traditionally you plant them on the shortest day and harvest them on the longest. Apart from weeding, they need almost no care if planted in medium-rich soil and they reward you with a luscious flavour, like five-star onion, and a velvety texture that adds a richness to any dish, but especially this dish!

Shallot and bacon tartlets

Ingredients

500g shortcrust pastry (you can cheat and buy it ready made)

500g shallots peeled and halved or quartered if large

8 bacon rashers

142ml double cream

150ml milk

2 large eggs

125g strong cheese such as Cheddar, grated

Method

Roll out the pastry and use it to line eight small round tart tins or one large one. Chill the pastry in the tins for half an hour.

While the pastry is chilling, put the shallots in a roasting tin barely oiled with olive oil with the bacon on top. Roast for ten minutes, then take out the bacon and set aside while you give the shallots another 25 minutes, they should be golden-brown and caramelised (you can brush them with a teaspoon of maple syrup when you take the bacon out if you want real sweet richness.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan180°C/gas 6 while you slice the bacon into strips Take the pastry from the fridge, prick the pastry bases with a fork, bake for 15 minutes and set aside.

Lower the oven temperature to 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4.

Beat the cream, milk, and eggs. Lay the onions, bacon and cheese, in that order) in the tarts and pour the wet ingredients over. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden and just set. Gorgeous with a really oaky red wine, or a glass of dry sherry.