On January 22, 1963, the Elysée Treaty was signed between Germany and France.  No, I am not going to tell you what it was about because that would mean I would have to research it – and I would rather write about food.

I mention it because on January 22, 2011- 48 years after the Treaty – Ed and Lila were coming to dinner.  I think I have introduced you to Ed and Lila before.  Lila is a wonderful potter and I love using her beautiful pieces when cooking, serving and photographing for the blog or other projects.  She did, indeed, make the best pie plate ever, using a glaze that somehow magically crisps the crust and keeps it from getting soggy, and to which the crust doesn’t stick.  Seriously, it is the best pie plate ever!  If it ever breaks I will be inconsolable.  Piece by piece, I am acquiring her beautiful wares; next on tap is a blue or green – or blue-green – soufflé dish.  And Ed is no slouch, either, when it comes to talent and creativity.  He is an amazing photographer with an eye that truly sees beyond the lens, whether in black and white or color.

One time, when they were coming to dinner, I looked up what had happened in history on that date and saw that it was “Wear Brown Shoes Day” – December 4th.  So I suggested they wear brown shoes (they might have) and that we would cook accordingly (I thought lamb stew the perfect complement to brown shoes…).  Fast forward a little more than a year and it was time to celebrate the signing of the Elysée Treaty.  I suggested a theme of Franco-Germanic food.  And that, my friends, was the start of a great menu!

When they come to dinner, we always make sure we start early because the dinners can go on for four or five glorious hours – we never tire of subjects: food, wine, travel, books, movies, education, art and politics (although I sometimes put the kibosh on politics at the dinner table, old-fashioned person that I am…).  By the end of an evening with them – whether in their home or in ours – we are energized with great food for thought.  In addition to the conversation, we all four love to cook, and this makes for some great food for eating!

For our Franco-Germanic dinner, I wanted to try a new recipe I found for a French soup – a Purée de céleri-rave (celeriac, or celery root).  This new-to-me version has the velvety creaminess of my standard with almost none of the fat!  Dessert was easy to decide – a Nußtorte that I had eaten when living a summer in Heidelberg.  It is a walnut sponge cake with alternating layers of raspberries and cream.  Very tasty.  The main course was a bit of a puzzle.  french or German?  On the eastern side of France, right on the German border, is the region of Alsace, noted for its marriage of the French and German cultures.  So Mark suggested a traditional Alsation recipe for our main course – Tarte à l’oignon.  The perfect idea!

The search for recipes commenced.  When I visited Strasbourg many years ago – one of the most beautiful cities in Alsace – I enjoyed  wonderful slices of onion tart.  The best part about them was their simplicity – just onions, cream, eggs, salt and pepper.  I began searching online at Epicurious, one of my favorite sources.  They had a recipe from famed chef André Soltner, but it had bacon.  While I am sure it would be tasty, bacon in the United States is ultra-smokey and way too strong for the delicacy of this French recipe.  I kept looking.  Finding very little in English, I switched to French and searched on “recette tarte à l’oignon.”  I found a simple, convincing version in French and made it for Ed and Lila as part of our bistro-esque evening.

The recipe was very good, except for its faulty timings.  At first I questioned my translation abilities, but that really wasn’t the problem.  Even when I more-than-doubled the baking time – both for blind-baking the pâte brisée and for the tarte itself – the crust was too soft and the top was dull with no color.  Also, the seasoning was weak.  So I played with it today and am quite happy with the results.  I am very thankful to Ed and Lila for being my testers – while there wasn’t anything wrong with it the first time, it needed to be tweaked a bit to make it shine.  Today, I give you my version for the Tarte à l’oignon, an Elysian food for sure.  And perhaps soon I will share the soup and nut cake recipes, too.

So, bon appétit or guten Appetit!

– David

@font-face {
font-family: “Calibri”;
}@font-face {
font-family: “Cambria”;
}@font-face {
font-family: “Gill Sans”;
}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 10pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }

Tarte à l’oignon