So, we were supposed to have friends over for dinner tonight, so I spent lots of time creating a very tasty dinner, an amazing cake & a last minute plum pie with left-overs from other baking things!

For the French Onion Soup, I worked out of my Joy of Cooking, which if yours is the same edition the recipe will be on page     .  The recipes in here are always quite thorough and usually perfect, but my advice about it is that if you have a kitchen timer, you should set the memory to four minutes and after the initial 15 minutes, you should stir your onions every four minutes (I've been making this for a while, and with lots of lazy experimentation, this is the best way I've figured to make it that does not involve either burning them or standing at the stove with a spatula in your hand for nearly an hour.

we set the table, we never do this! Something I like about my kitchen is that it's on the second story, when I was a kid I always thought that you had really made it in life &/or were really hip if your kitchen was off the ground floor. #allmydreamshavecometrue My kid self would be so impressed our whole house isn't even on the ground floor! #citylife

my kitchen timer is so boring, and the magnet broke on the back of it last week, I think i'll buy a more interesting and  cute one next weekÂ

I will post the recipe for my Onion Soup on a different post!

One of my friends is a vegetarian so the second part of my dinner was inspired for her.  But this was an aubergine-tomato tart, which once I realized my eggplants were less than I expected, I decided to throw some squash in there as well.  But that decision was possibly based on the fact that I got this really cool mandolin at the store on super-sale a few days ago!

So last night, I made puff pastry dough, a full batch, which was enough for my aubergine tarts and for my Mocha-Napoleon Layer Cake which came later! The dough was so light and fluffy!

For my aubergine tarts, I sliced my eggplants, my cherry tomatoes, & my squash (long-ways), & covered them in a bit of thyme, rosemary, salt & pepper, & oil.  I laid them all as flatly as possible in separate sections of pan & roasted them in the oven at 375, flipping after 40 minutes, then cooking for another 30 minutes or at least until the vegetables are the right color and texture for your preference! (They really won't cook too much more on your tarts, but keep it in mind nonetheless).

Prepare your puff pastry dough on a flat sheet, lay your roasted vegetables out on the puff pastry dough.  It is acceptable now to put the whole tart in the oven now, but personally, I like to do an egg wash on my crusts for a really nice look and great texture on my crusts.

just so you get an idea, this is pre-egg wash (not quite as pretty as  with an egg wash)

Pop this baby in the oven at 400 for 10 minutes, (set your timer), then reduce the heat to 350 and cook another 15 minutes.**

Because of the Onion Soup, I think a white wine would go well with this dinner, if you're looking!

Iri thinks so too, she really likes white wine.

**Keep in mind there are so many factors affecting how your puff pastry cooks; I think store bought puff pastry may take less time to cook than mine, but I'm really not sure of any of the specifics. So just keep an eye on your tart after the initial 10 minutes!

Read the original on: Southern Belle's Bakery