French Emmental & Roscoff onion tart with a beurre blanc sauce

From the country’s fine rustic traditions come so many varieties and styles of French cheese to choose from, that there is a fromage to suit everyone. But there are also surprising and inventive ways of using cheese in recipes.

Dez Turland is the Development Chef at Saunton Sands hotel in North Devon, and a previous Vive le Cheese winner. Emmental is a medium hard cheese with a slightly sweet and nutty taste.

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves: 6-8

200g French Emmental cheese
500g Roscoff onions – thinly sliced
150g Cornish Coppa ham – pre-sliced
100g unsalted butter
2 egg yolks
5 fi lo pastry sheets
For the beurre blanc:
150ml Cornish Rattler cider
100g unsalted butter – cold
100g double cream
30g shallots
10g rosemary


Start by melting ½ the butter and brush each filo pastry sheet. Line a 10” flan ring by layering the pastry sheets on top of each other and cook in the oven at 175oC for approximately 10 minutes or until they are golden brown.

 For the filling, melt the remainder of the butter in a saucepan, add the onions and cook until soft. Remove from the heat and allow them to cool  slightly, then mix in the French Emmental and egg yolks. To fi ll the tart, start with a layer of Coppa ham in the bottom, then alternate layers of the French Emmental mix and Coppa ham, finishing with the French Emmental mix. Return to the oven and cook for 20 minutes at 175oC.

 For the sauce, add a small amount of the butter to a pan, add the shallots and rosemary and cook until soft. Add the Rattler cider and reduce by ½  hen add the double cream and bring to the boil. Whisk in the cold butter and keep warm.

Originally published in FrenchEntrée Magazine

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