Caramelized Onion Flatbread, Fennel Quiche, and a Jewel-Toned Root Vegetable Tart
Three simple, savory bakes inspired by the stalls of a European country market: a sweet and salty caramelized onion flatbread with artichokes and olives, a silky quiche of caramelized fennel and Gruyère, and a stunning tart of purple sweet potato and golden beet over creamy goat cheese. Each one works with a sprouted flour crust or a grain-free crust, so everyone at the table can enjoy them.
Yield: Each recipe serves 6–8 · Active: 20–25 min each · Total: 1–1½ hours each · Best in fall through spring, when fennel, beets, and sweet potatoes are at their best · Best eaten: midday or early evening
Start Here: The Crusts
The quiche and the root vegetable tart both use a 9-inch crust. Choose one, or skip the crust for the quiche: just butter a pie dish and bake the filling right in it.
Sprouted Flour Crust
1¼ cups (150 g) sprouted spelt or sprouted whole wheat flour
½ tsp Baja Gold sea salt
½ cup (113 g) cold grass-fed butter, cubed
1 pasture-raised egg yolk
3–4 tbsp ice water
Mix. Rub the butter into the flour and salt with your fingertips until it looks like coarse crumbs with some pea-sized pieces. Stir in the yolk and just enough ice water for the dough to hold together.
Chill. Flatten it into a disc, wrap it, and chill 1 hour.
Roll. Roll it out to ⅛ inch thick, press it into a 9-inch tart or pie dish, and chill 20 minutes.
Bake. Line it with parchment, fill it with pie weights or dried beans, and bake at 375°F for 20 minutes. Remove the weights and bake 5 minutes more.
About sprouted flour: Sprouting the grain before milling begins to break down its phytic acid, which helps your body absorb its minerals, and many people find it easier to digest. It still contains gluten, so use the grain-free crust if you're avoiding gluten. Sprouted flour drinks a little more water than regular flour, so add an extra spoonful of water if the dough seems dry.
Grain-Free Press-In Crust
2 cups blanched almond flour
½ cup cassava flour
½ tsp Baja Gold sea salt
6 tbsp cold grass-fed butter, cubed
1 pasture-raised egg
Mix. Pulse the flours and salt in a food processor, then add the butter and pulse until it looks like wet sand. Add the egg and pulse until it clumps together.
Press it evenly into the bottom and about 1 inch up the sides of a 9-inch pie dish, and prick it all over with a fork.
Bake at 350°F for 12–15 minutes, until just golden. Let it cool 10 minutes before filling.
1. Caramelized Onion Flatbread with Artichokes, Olives, and Anchovies
Serves 6–8 · Active: 25 min · Total: 1 hr 30 min · Year-round (cherry tomatoes in summer, sun-dried tomatoes in fall and winter) · Best eaten: midday or early evening
A classic from the south of France: sweet, jammy caramelized onions on a crisp flatbread, topped with artichokes, tomatoes, salty anchovies, and olives, then finished with a pile of fresh arugula.
Ingredients
Flatbread base: choose one
Grain-free (the quickest): 1½ cups cassava flour, ½ cup almond flour, 1 tsp Baja Gold sea salt, ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil, 1 pasture-raised egg, and ¾ cup warm water
Sprouted flour: 3 cups (360 g) sprouted flour, 1 tsp instant yeast, 1½ tsp Baja Gold sea salt, 1 cup plus 2 tbsp warm water, and 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Caramelized onions
4 large yellow onions, thinly sliced
3 tbsp grass-fed butter and 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves stripped
1 tsp Baja Gold sea salt
Toppings
1 cup artichoke hearts (packed in olive oil), chopped
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved (or ½ cup sun-dried tomatoes, sliced, in fall and winter)
6 anchovy fillets (packed in olive oil), torn
½ cup small black olives
To finish: 3 cups baby arugula, lemon juice and zest, extra virgin olive oil, and flaky salt
Method
Caramelize the onions. Cook the onions with the butter, olive oil, thyme, and salt in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring every 5–10 minutes, for 45–60 minutes, until deep golden and jammy. Don't rush it; this is where all the flavor comes from. (You can make them up to a week ahead.)
Make the base.
Grain-free: Mix everything into a soft dough and let it rest 10 minutes. Press it into an oiled 9x13 pan, and pre-bake at 425°F for 10 minutes.
Sprouted: Mix everything into a soft, slightly sticky dough, knead 3–4 minutes, and let it rise, covered, for 1–2 hours. Press it into an oiled sheet pan, and pre-bake at 450°F for 8 minutes.
Top. Spread the onions over the pre-baked base, and scatter with the artichokes, tomatoes, anchovies, and olives.
Bake 12–15 minutes (at 425°F for grain-free, or 450°F for sprouted), until golden underneath.
Finish with the arugula, a squeeze of lemon, lemon zest, a drizzle of olive oil, and flaky salt. Serve warm or at room temperature.
No anchovies? Use 2 tbsp capers for the same salty, briny bite.
2. Caramelized Fennel and Gruyère Quiche
Serves 6–8 · Active: 20 min · Total: 1 hr 30 min · Best in fall through spring, when fennel is at its sweetest · Best eaten: midday
Fennel turns sweet, soft, and mellow when it's slowly caramelized in butter. Paired with nutty Gruyère in a silky custard, it makes an elegant quiche that's as lovely for brunch as it is for a light supper.
Ingredients
1 pre-baked crust (or a buttered pie dish)
2 large fennel bulbs, thinly sliced (save the fronds)
3 tbsp grass-fed butter
½ tsp Baja Gold sea salt
1½ cups grated Gruyère
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped, plus 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
Optional: zest of ½ lemon
Custard
5 pasture-raised eggs
¾ cup raw or grass-fed cream
¾ cup raw or grass-fed whole milk
½ tsp Baja Gold sea salt
¼ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
A pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Method
Caramelize the fennel. Cook it with the butter and salt in a large skillet over medium-low heat for 20–25 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft, sweet, and lightly golden. Let it cool slightly.
Make the custard. Whisk the eggs, cream, milk, salt, pepper, and nutmeg until smooth.
Fill. Spread the fennel in the crust, and scatter with the cheese, parsley, thyme, and lemon zest (if using). Pour the custard over the top.
Bake at 350°F for 35–40 minutes, until the center barely wobbles when you gently shake the pan.
Cool 15–20 minutes before slicing, then garnish with the fennel fronds.
3. Purple Sweet Potato and Golden Beet Tart
Serves 6–8 · Active: 20 min · Total: 1 hr 15 min · Best in fall through spring · Best eaten: midday or early evening
A jewel-toned tart of thinly sliced purple sweet potato and golden beet in alternating rows, over a layer of creamy goat cheese and greens. It looks like it came from a bakery window, but it's one of the simplest tarts you'll ever make.
Ingredients
1 pre-baked crust
4 oz fresh goat cheese, softened
2 cups spinach, kale, or Swiss chard, wilted and squeezed dry
1 purple sweet potato and 1 golden beet, peeled and very thinly sliced (a mandoline helps)
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves and 1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp Baja Gold sea salt and ½ tsp black pepper
Flaky salt and lemon zest, to finish
Method
Layer. Spread the goat cheese over the bottom of the crust, then the greens. Overlap the sweet potato and beet slices in alternating rows on top.
Season. Brush generously with olive oil, and sprinkle with the herbs, salt, and pepper.
Bake at 375°F for 35–40 minutes, until the vegetables are tender when pierced with a knife and lightly caramelized. If the crust edges brown too quickly, cover them with a strip of foil.
Finish with flaky salt, lemon zest, and fresh thyme. It's lovely warm or at room temperature.
Storage
Onion flatbread: best fresh. It keeps up to 4 hours at room temperature, or 2 days refrigerated; recrisp at 425°F for 5–8 minutes.
Fennel quiche: refrigerated up to 4 days, or frozen up to 2 months. Reheat at 300°F for 10–15 minutes, or serve at room temperature.
Root vegetable tart: refrigerated up to 3 days. Reheat at 375°F for 8–10 minutes, or serve at room temperature.
Caramelized onions: refrigerated up to 1 week.
Unbaked crusts: refrigerated up to 2 days, or frozen up to 2 months.
Label Checks
Artichoke hearts and anchovies should be packed in olive oil, never "vegetable oil" or sunflower oil.
Sun-dried tomatoes should be dry-packed or packed in olive oil, with no sulfites.
Olives should be naturally cured, with no added preservatives.
Nourishment Notes
Onions — quercetin and prebiotic fibers.
Artichokes — cynarin and inulin, a prebiotic fiber.
Anchovies — omega-3s (EPA and DHA), calcium, and selenium.
Olives and extra virgin olive oil — oleic acid and polyphenols.
Fennel — anethole, vitamin C, and potassium; it's traditionally used to ease bloating.
Pasture-raised eggs — choline, lutein, and vitamins A, D, E, and K2.
Gruyère — calcium, protein, and vitamin K2.
Raw or grass-fed cream, milk, and butter — vitamins A and K2, CLA, and butyrate.
Purple sweet potatoes — anthocyanins (the same pigments found in blueberries), beta-carotene, and potassium.
Golden beets — folate, nitrates, and betaxanthins.
Fresh goat cheese — calcium, protein, and mostly A2-type casein.
Leafy greens — folate, magnesium, and vitamin K.
Sprouted flour — minerals that are easier to absorb than in regular flour, since sprouting begins to break down phytic acid.
For your cycle: The fennel quiche is especially soothing in the luteal phase, when bloating is common, and the root vegetable tart's folate and the anchovies' omega-3s support every phase.
Sourcing
Sprouted flour — organic sprouted spelt or sprouted whole wheat flour (sprouted spelt makes the lightest crust)
Almond and cassava flour — organic, finely ground, and fresh (keep them in the fridge); Otto's Naturals makes cassava flour
Eggs — organic and pasture-raised, from a local farm or Alexandre Family Farm
Milk and cream — raw from a farmer you know and trust, or organic, grass-fed, low-temperature pasteurized milk and cream (Kalona SuperNatural or Straus Family Creamery)
Grass-fed butter — organic, cultured butter from 100% grass-fed cows
Gruyère — aged, from a traditional cheesemaker
Goat cheese — fresh goat cheese from Cypress Grove or a local dairy near you
Onions, fennel, purple sweet potatoes, golden beets, greens, herbs, and lemons — organic, from a farmers' market
Artichoke hearts — packed in olive oil, in glass
Anchovies — packed in extra virgin olive oil, like Ortiz
Olives — naturally cured, with no added preservatives
Sun-dried tomatoes — organic, dry-packed or packed in olive oil
Spices — organic and non-irradiated; grate whole nutmeg fresh
Extra virgin olive oil — organic, single-estate, harvest-dated, in dark glass
Salt — Baja Gold sea salt; Maldon for finishing
— Anna aka Food Marshall