Somerset Onion & Cider Tarte Tatin with Aged Cheddar

⏱ 75 min · Serves 4

Sweet onions slowly caramelised in butter, cider and thyme, then flipped out of the pan under a crisp puff pastry lid and showered with sharp aged cheddar. It's a West Country pub lunch dressed up for the dinner table — glossy, savoury-sweet and impossible not to go back to.

Per serving: 642 kcal · 14.5g protein · 55.0g carbs · 40.0g fat

Ingredients

• 6 medium onions (about 900g), peeled
• 40g unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar
• 150ml dry cider
• 4 sprigs thyme, plus extra to finish
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 320g all-butter puff pastry sheet
• 80g aged cheddar, coarsely grated
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Handful of watercress and a splash of olive oil, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Trim the onion roots but keep the bases intact, then halve each onion through the root so the layers hold together.
2. Melt the butter with the oil in a 24cm ovenproof frying pan over medium heat. Sit the onions cut-side down in a single snug layer, season, and cook undisturbed for 10-12 minutes until deeply golden underneath.
3. Scatter over the sugar and let it bubble for a minute, then add the vinegar, cider, thyme sprigs and a good pinch of salt. Simmer for 15-18 minutes, spooning the liquid over now and then, until the onions are tender and the liquid has reduced to a sticky, glossy caramel that coats the pan.
4. Take off the heat. Nudge the onions cut-side down into a neat, tight pattern and dot the Dijon between them. Let the pan cool for 5 minutes.
5. Unroll the pastry and cut a circle 2cm wider than the pan. Lay it over the onions and tuck the overhang down inside the edge. Prick the top a few times with a knife.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the pastry is puffed, deep golden and crisp underneath at the edges.
7. Rest for 5 minutes only — any longer and it sticks. Run a knife round the rim, put a large plate over the pan and flip confidently in one movement.
8. Scatter the grated cheddar over the hot onions so it just softens, add a few thyme leaves and a crack of pepper. Serve in wedges with dressed watercress.