One of my favorite games is to play “What can you make with what’s in the fridge?” My friends Callie and Mary can both attest to this. I like the puzzle aspect of it. Random fruits can be chutneys. Large amounts of vegetables can become fritters. That kind of thing. Sometimes a new favorite is born. Sometimes, you end up with a hodgepodge rice bowl (that is still delicious). But the point is, there is something special waiting in even the most boring of foods when you add a little ingenuity. Like onions, for instance.

Add a little butter, salt and some leftover red wine to them and 30 minutes later you’ve got yourself caramelized onions, which barely seem related to the raw ones (though it’s impossible to tell, because with the tears and mascara running down my face any time I cut into one I can’t really see what’s going on). Can you imagine another instance in which you could just shovel onions into your mouth in such large quantities? I can’t.

Callie and I were talking about food, like we do almost every day, and she mentioned putting figs and caramelized onions on a pizza. It was a great idea for my leftover figs (you may remember my recent fig grilled cheese). Her idea stuck with me when I was thinking about making lunch this past Saturday (I think I just need to keep listening to everything she says). But I was itching to use my new tart pan, so instead of the pizza I went this route. Just to be sure, I’ll have to make it into a pizza later and find out which is better. For science.

Here’s what you need:
1 pie crust, premade or homemade
4 Tbsp. butter
1 medium onion, sliced into thin rings and separated
1 large egg
1/4 cup milk
6-8 figs, washed and quartered
3 Tbsp. blue cheese
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the pie crust, place it in whatever pan you plan to use and poke the flat surfaces with a fork. Prebake for 8 minutes.

In a large skillet, melt the butter on medium low heat. Add the onions, salt liberally and cook on medium low for 20-30 minutes, until caramelized. Stir occasionally during cook time.

After the onions have had a few minutes to cool, stir the egg and milk together in a bowl. Add the onions and spread over the tart surface. Arrange the figs on top of the onions and egg, then sprinkle the blue cheese on top. Liberally salt and pepper the top of the tart.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the egg mixture is set and the crust is lightly browned.