Flammkuchen

This uses puff pastry rather than bread as a base, giving it a lighter crisper texture, even if it isn't entirely traditional.

Ingredients:

• 1 sheet of ready made puff pastry
• 2 red onions, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 125g bacon lardons or 175g mushrooms in small cubes
• 150g crème fraîche
• 1 pinch of grated nutmeg
• salt and pepper to taste
• 15g flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
2. Place the puff pastry sheet onto a baking tray and put into the hot oven for 10 minutes.
3. While pastry puffs up, put the onions and olive oil in a frying pan and fry for a few minutes.
4. Add the bacon/mushrooms to the pan and fry until it's started to cook, but you don't want it to brown. If it does, just remove it from the heat.
5. By now the 10 minutes on the puff pastry should be about done, so remove the pastry from the oven and spread the crème fraîche over it.
6. Sprinkle the nutmeg over the pastry and then top with the onions and bacon/mushrooms.
7. Season with salt and pepper and return to the oven for another 10 to 15 minutes.
8. When the edge of the pastry is a nice crisp golden colour, remove it from the oven and garnish with the parsley.
9. Cut into slices and serve with a leafy salad.

Serves 3 (or 5 if served with some boiled potatoes).