Savory Mushroom Tart

I love mushrooms.  I like them in salads, in sauces, stuffed, grilled, marinated, and especially sauteed with lots of garlic and shallots.  Although choosing the simple white button mushrooms to slice and prepare is just fine, it’s far more interesting to find a market that gives me a selection:  oyster, porcini, portobello, crimini, shitaki, and oh my goodness — chanterelles.  They’re more challenging to find around here, though.

Now the serious drag about this obsession with mushrooms is that some of them cost an arm and a leg, so choosing the simple white mushrooms and then mixing them with a few of the others is easier on the wallet, and makes for quite an interesting dish to salivate over.  If the selection isn’t great on a particular day, I also purchase a couple varieties of dried mushrooms, hydrate them,  and throw them in with the mix.  The nice thing about using rehydrated mushrooms is that the broth can be used to make a great sauce.

Recipes that feature mushrooms always catch my eye — especially if the recipe involves a tart of sorts.  Although I’ve tried many, their downfall is usually the crust.  Either it’s soggy, or doughy, or the mushrooms are too watery.  But I found one on Epicurious that finally delivers a satisfying finished product.  It can be made ahead and served at room temperature, which is what I did last night.

The recipe is simple enough to alter, so I did. I found some green garlic at the market and had to buy it.  I’ve seen so many recipes that feature it, and I’ve never come across it in the market, so foodie that I am, snapped it up and added it to the tart recipe.  I also had some mascarpone in the fridge, so added that as well.  To save time, I used pie dough I purchased.   The reviewers on Epicurious like the recipe (a bit different than my version), but several described it as being rich.  We didn’t think so.  It was completely inhaled last night with comments of mmmm….. and Oh….This is great!  It was very, very good.

Mushroom Tart

For the pastry…
1  piece “Unroll & Bake” purchased pie dough or your favorite pastry recipe
10″ tart pan w/removable bottom
pie weights
aluminum foil

Heat oven to 450 degrees F.  Fit pastry to tart pan.  Prick bottom and sides with a fork.  Fit aluminum foil over the bottom, and sides of the crust.  Fill the bottom with the pie weights.  If you don’t have these, dried beans or rice also work.  They keep the crust from sliding down the side of the tart pan during baking and also prevent the crust from getting puffy.  Bake for 10 minutes and cool.

Reduce heat in the oven to 325 degrees F.

For the Mushroom filling…
1 T Extra virgin olive oil
1 lb. sliced mixed fresh mushrooms (crimini, oyster, portobello)
1 pkg. dried chantrelles (re-hydrated in warm water for 30 minutes, and then squeezed of excess water)
1 shallot, minced
2 stalks of green garlic, both green and white parts sliced
1 tsp. fresh thyme

Over medium high heat, saute shallots and green garlic in olive oil 1-2 minutes.  Add sliced mushrooms and thyme and cook until all moisture is gone from mushrooms, about 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste, and scrape mix into a shallow bowl to cool.

For the Custard…
1/2 c. creme fraiche
1/2 c. heavy cream
1/4 c. mascarpone
1 whole large egg
1 large egg yolk

Mix all ingredients in  a small bowl until smooth.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

To assemble the tart, first drain any liquid that may have accumulated while the mushrooms were cooling.  Spread evenly across the pastry shell.  Then pour custard over the mushrooms, making sure that it extends to the edges of the crust. Bake tart for 40 minutes, or until surface is golden and set.  Remove side of pan and serve, or cool to room temperature and serve later.

Here’s the original recipe on Epicurious.    Now…what to do with these gorgeousl red artichokes I also picked up yesterday…