Welcome to December! Holiday season and entertaining are fast approaching! With this in mind, the next few weeks of posts are going to showcase things to make your holiday season easier. They may be recipes that you can pull together in a hurry, cocktails or gift ideas.
Looking for a recipe that is quick to pull together and will work as a main or an appetizer? Mushroom. Cheese. Tart. Three words that make me think “yum”! I love mushrooms. Pretty much have my entire life. When I was a kid, my sister Louise (who wasn’t a big mushroom fan) would dump the mushrooms from her meal onto my plate. This accomplished two things: she looked like she had finished her dinner and I got extra mushrooms. As a vegetarian, she no longer gives me her mushrooms. Mushrooms are low in calories, fat-free, cholesterol-free, gluten-free and very low in sodium. Somehow, they still manage to provide important nutrients, including selenium, potassium, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin D and more. This tart is great if you have vegetarian guests as it makes a great dinner, or you can serve it as an appetizer. Sorry Louise, I know that you are not happy with this recipe as is not gluten-free, but I’m hoping you can use the filling in a non-glutenous way.
I love cheese (who doesn’t?!) and adding ricotta gives an extra depth and creaminess to the recipe. You can experiment with different types of cheese. I made this in Italy where one can find fabulous Scamorza, which is a beautiful smoked cheese, but you could use Swiss, Gruyere, Edam, Gouda or a combination.
IMPORTANT NOTE: I doubled this recipe as I was trying it with pie dough and puff pastry – the recipe below is for one tart. Some of the photos may look like there are a lot more mushrooms than you’ll see when you’re making this, but don’t worry!
Prep time: 15 minutes; Cook time: 25 minutes; Serves: 4 -8 people (dinner vs. appetizer)
What you need:
- 1 tbsp butter, unsalted
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 1/2 lb mixed mushrooms, cleaned and diced (I used Oyster, White, Cremini and Pioppini)
- 1/2 cup ricotta
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 shallots, diced
- 1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
- 1/2 tsp fresh thyme
- salt and pepper to taste (I used about 1/2 tsp of each)
- 1 small leek, cleaned and diced (white and very light green part only) [ELIN’s TIP: Leeks sometimes are very gritty and sandy – after you dice your leeks, you can put them in a bowl of water for a few minutes to remove the grit.]
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1/2+ cup shredded Scamorza (a smoked cheese) – you can also use Swiss or Gruyere
- 1 package round pie dough – you can also make your own or use puff pastry (round if you can find it)
- 1 egg beaten (for egg wash – if you use pie dough)
- fresh chives, finely chopped (for garnish)
What you do:
- Preheat oven to 425ºF
- In a saucepan, over medium-high heat, melt butter and olive oil
- Add mushrooms, shallots, garlic and leek, stir
- Cook until lightly brown, about 10 minutes – the mixture will still be a little wet
- Add rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper, stir, cook for about 1 minute
- Remove from heat, stir in ricotta and lemon juice
- Roll out your pie pastry, place on parchment paper on a baking sheet
- Add the mushroom ricotta mix leaving a border of approximately 1 1/2″ all the way around
- Sprinkle with shredded cheese
- Fold edges over to form a slightly open tart, pinch sides as you fold the pastry over to close
- Brush pie dough with egg mix
- Bake approximately 15 – 20 minutes; rotate the baking sheet after 10 minutes; until the tart is golden and the cheese is melted [I made two at once and it took a little longer – 20-25 minutes to cook both]
- Sprinkle with fresh chives
- Serve (Vegetarians at dinner parties will thank you for this one!)
- Here is the puff pastry version – the feedback on the puff pastry was that it needed more filling, so if you use puff pastry, maybe increase the recipe by 50% more mushrooms
