For a touch of luxury, drizzle a tiny drop of truffle oil over these moreish mushroom tarts just before serving.
INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon olive oil
knob of butter
250 grams button mushrooms, finely chopped
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Goat’s cheese
100 grams soft goat’s cheese or feta at room temperature
1 clove garlic, crushed
freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoons milk
To assemble
1-2 sheets pre-rolled butter puff pastry
small sprigs of dill or flat-leaf parsley for garnish
truffle oil, optional
mini muffin tins (you need 18 holes), greased and bases lined with a circle of baking paper
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Mushrooms: Heat the oil and butter in a sauté pan and cook the mushrooms with a good pinch of salt for 10 minutes until golden and tender. Add the spring onions, garlic, tarragon, sugar and balsamic vinegar and cook for another 2 minutes stirring frequently until all the liquid has evaporated and the mushrooms are glossy.
Season and set aside to cool. The mushrooms can be cooked 2 days ahead.
Goat’s cheese: Put the cheese, garlic and a grind of pepper in a bowl and beat with a spoon until smooth. Beat in enough milk to make a soft-ish cream that can be piped onto the tarts.
To assemble: Stamp out pastry rounds the same size as the tins’ circumference. Mine were 4 cm.
Spoon the mushrooms into the tins, pressing down firmly to compact them. Top with a pastry round and gently press it down over the mushrooms. Bake for 8-10 minutes until puffed and golden.
Place a flat baking tray over the tins and invert to remove the tarts. Scoop out any mushrooms left in the bottom of the tins and put back onto the pastry.
To serve: Place the warm (not hot) tarts on a serving platter. Put the goat’s cheese in a small plastic bag and snip off a tiny corner. Pipe a squiggle over each tart, along with a grind of pepper and top with a herb sprig and a drizzle of truffle oil if using. Makes 18 tarts
Keep up to date with
dish weekly recipes,
food news, and events.
Related Content
latest issue:
127
In Dream Escape, we journey from Japan and Morocco to Italy, India and beyond, sharing recipes inspired by travel, heritage and comfort. We celebrate the champions of the Outstanding Food Producer Awards, explore the stories and recipes of chefs shaped by their cultural roots, and warm up with everything from West African soups and slow-braised lamb to porchetta, butter chicken and beef noodle soup. Alongside destination menus, Scandinavian sweets and cosy pub classics, Chrisanne Terblanche shares her favourite street-side dining spots in Bangkok, while Yvonne Lorkin explores red wine varietals. This issue, we invite you to slow down, turn the pages and escape through food.