Dinner Tonight: Rustic Caramelized Onion Tart

Remember a few weeks back when I said that we don't eat much meat in our house? We don't. But we really like bacon. A Lot. I came across this recipe in a cookbook I recently picked up at my grocery store. It's published by Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese, and they were running a promotion that if you purchased three Philadelphia products, you got the cookbook for free. I happened to be shopping for my younger son's birthday party, and, between dips and frosting, birthday parties around here require a lot of cream cheese. So I grabbed the cookbook ("a $19.99 value!") before checking out. The cookbook is called Spread a Little Joy, and it is available for purchase from Amazon. It's actually a great book, with a lot of yummy recipes and nicely reproduced full color photography. I've tried a few things over the last few months, and they've all been good.

But back to bacon. I was looking for something to go with soup. We eat a lot of soup, both homemade and canned, so I'm often looking for interesting accompaniments - breads, sandwiches, rolls, breadsticks, paninis, etc. This recipe was actually listed in the appetizers section, but it was the perfect dish to serve on a drippy fall day with big steaming bowls of tomato soup. Besides being super delicious, it was easy to make and visually impressive. The recipe claims twelve appetizer size portions; we sliced it into eight wedges and ate every crumb.

Rustic Caramelized Onion Tart
Adapted from Spread a Little Joy

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1 large onion, thinly sliced
8 slices bacon, chopped
1 ready-to-use refrigerator pie crust (1/2 of 15 oz. package)
1 8 oz. package cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat with no obvious problems), softened
1/4 cup sour cream (again, used the lowfat version)
1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese (I used a fancy block of Gruyere de Comte; I'm sure Swiss would be fine)

1) Cook onions and bacon in skillet on medium-high heat 10 to 12 minutes or until onions are tender, stirring frequently.

2) Heat oven to 400 degrees. Unroll pie crust on baking sheet. Mix cream cheese and sour cream; spread onto crust. Spoon onion mixture onto center of crust, leaving two-inch border. Sprinkle with cheese. Fold border over filling, leaving opening in center and pleating crust as necessary to fit.

3) Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until crust is lightly browned. Cool slightly.