For Christmas Eve lunch, we decided to use up some of the puff pastry we had in the freezer topped with shiitake mushrooms, caramelized onions, a little parmesan and cheddar cheese with lots of thyme and parsley to finish it off.
Because it's socially acceptable to day drink during the holiday season, we paired it with a little Prosecco we found in our outside fridge. Prosecco goes perfectly with this buttery, umami packed treat.
Mushroom Tartlet
Yield: 1 tartlet
Ingredients:
- 1 sheet of Puff Pastry (my mom is Celiac so we used Schär Gluten-Free pre-made puff pastry)
- Sliced shiitake mushrooms
- Marsala Wine
- 1 large onion, thinly sliced
- Sour cream
- A bunch of fresh thyme
- A bunch of fresh parsley
- SPG (salt, pepper, garlic) Seasoning (coming soon to the Spyce Girlz line)
- Salted butter
- A pinch of white sugar
- A pinch of salt
- 1 egg
- Maldon salt, to taste
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 400°F
Thaw or defrost your pre-made puff pastry according to package instructions
Slice your shiitake mushrooms, roughly enough to cover the puff pastry and thinly slice the onion
Put 2 tbsp of salted butter in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Once the butter is melted, add in your onions and cook until they start to brown. Once they start to brown, add in a pinch of sugar and salt to encourage the caramelization process. Once the onions are caramelized, remove them from the ban but leave as much of the leftover butter as you can!
Add a few tbsp of thyme leaves to the butter along with your sliced mushrooms and toss. Add in a slash of marsala wine and cook until the mushrooms have released most of their water but remain tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste or SPG seasoning.
Lightly score a square, approximately 1/2 border around the sheet. Make sure not to cut all the way through. Using a fork, poke a few holes in the middle of the pastry.
Spread a thin layer of sour cream around the middle of the puff pastry. Top with your caramelized onions, then mushrooms, grated parmesan cheese (very light amount), shredded cheddar cheese, and more fresh thyme if you'd like. Brush the border of the tartlet with egg wash.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Top with chopped parsley and additional fresh thyme. We also topped it with a little Maldon salt to taste for that extra wow factor. Slice and enjoy!
Nerd Notes:
1. Ever heard of champagne and french fries? Sparkling or bubbly drinks go well with anything rich, fatty or salty. The high acidity and fine bubbles of prosecco, champagne or other sparkling drinks have a mouth watering effect on your palette that helps cut through the fat, salt and oil which leaves your mouth feeling refreshed!
2. Umami? Umami is one of the 5 basic tastes along with sweet, salty, sour and bitter. Umami can be described as savoury or meaty. Wonder why MSG tastes so good, it's basically the epitome of Umami! This tarlette is packed with umami flavour from the meaty shiitake mushrooms and parmesan cheese (which contains glutamate, the 'G' in MSG and the free amino acid which produces the umami taste.)
3. Ok fine, I know this is technically a galette but tartlet sounds better! The difference between a tartlet/ tart or galette is that tarts are baked in tart pans rather than being free-formed on a baking sheet like a galette.
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