VANESSA’S WAY... ONION AND CASHEL BLUE CHEESE TART
The humble onion is a vital ingredient in a classic mirepoix base for stocks, sauces and soups, or can be a sharp raw crunch when added to a salsa. Though pungent, they are versatile and boy, do cheese and onion make a great partnership.A close friend’s husband took up cooking while raising a young family, and his success in creating slow cooked meat dishes with gutsy flavours was an inspiration to all the other new dads at the time. During his tenure as chief cook, he also made this delightful onion tart, an elegant vegetarian starter, and here is how I remember it.
GARY’S WAY... TRUFFLED WHITE ONION BISQUE WITH PANCETTA
This is one of my all-time favourite soups. I often have this on the menu in Viewmount House and I just love a big shaving of native Longford truffles or Bianchetti truffles, when in season, sprinkled all over it. Onions can be used for a million different dishes, and although I have them in every single puréed soup I make, for this dish they are the star of the show. The larger and sweeter the onions are, the better.
The fresh truffles are optional, and you’ll find truffle oil now in most good supermarkets if you want to use that instead. A big cheesy slice of sourdough rounds this off perfectly. I love The Little Milk Co Cheddar, but any top quality Irish cheese will do the trick.
