Mushroom tart
Time: 1 hr | Difficulty: 2/5 | Recommendation: Weeknight meal
This. Tart. Has. EVERYTHING. Puff pastry, cheese, mustard, onions, crispy mushrooms, soft mushrooms, earthy mushrooms, so many mushrooms!! It’s really easy, but does use both a pan and your oven, so be aware of that. I used frozen puff pastry, because it’s delicious and perfect and easy. I recommend using as many mushrooms as you can, and HIGHLY recommend using the very perfect maitake mushroom. I used three different kinds here, and they each brought different flavors and textures to each bite. Also, I wash my mushrooms, because I trust no one and they come from dirt. In the world of real cooking, you’re supposed to just brush them off, or apparently they don’t get crispy, but if you cook them on high enough heat, use enough butter, and press them down enough, they WILL get crispy!! (Sorry, I don’t want to eat a bug!!)
Ingredients/Tools:
A variety of mushrooms (I used king oyster mushrooms, maitakes, and shiitakes)
Half a red onion
Gruyère, shredded
Dijon mustard (tip: use a fancy flavored one like herbes de Provence, basil, or garlic!)
1 sheet of Pepperidge Farm puff pastry
Butter
Sheet pan
Baking parchment
A pan
Method:
Thaw a puff pastry sheet. Preheat your oven to 400°.
Wash your mushrooms, and rip them apart (for maitakes) or slice them (for the king oyster mushrooms). Slice your onion.
In a pan, heat some butter and a touch of olive oil, and add in the mushrooms. Let them release all their moisture. You don’t want to fully cook them here as they’ll finish crisping up in the oven—you just want to get them dried out and lightly browned. When they suggest they will soon be crispy, turn off the heat, add salt and pepper, and let them sit in the hot pan to dry out a little more.
Roll out your puff pastry and score a big square along the edge, about 1/4 inch thick, to sort of make a crust. Prick the bottom all over with a fork.
Put the pastry in the oven until it’s very lightly golden, about 10 minutes. While it’s in the oven, remove the mushrooms from the pan and add in the onions and a bit of butter. Same thing with the mushrooms, you just want them to sweat out their moisture a little. Then grate some gruyère.
When the pastry is ready, remove and lower the oven heat to 350°. Spread on the mustard. Sprinkle over the cheese. Add the king oyster mushroom slices first, then the onions, then the maitakes and shiitakes. Put it all back in the oven until the pastry is done, about 8 minutes more.
Slice with a pizza cutter or a big knife and enjoy!!