Meat & mushroom tartlets in a herbed crust
About two weeks, a friend pinged me and asked if I’d be interested in be interviewed for a feature in the Sunday Times. Here’s the article from the 4th of December. The theme was Christmas and the journalist was looking for something savoury coz the other people were making sweet things - mulled wine, cake pops and cupcakes. Another friend of mine suggested making mince pies with a twist - the mince being savoury instead of the Christmas minced pies that are traditionally sweet with spices in them.
It just so happened that the book Kitchen Coquette had reached me the day before and as I was pouring through its pages, our jumped a recipe for meat & mushroom tartlets.
[Adapted from Kitchen Coquette for the filling & Tartelette for the pastry]
Ingredients:
(For the pastry)
- 1.5 cups of all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp dry mustard
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- a pinch of salt
- 3 egg yolks
- 70 g unsalted butter
(For the filling)
- 150g minced pork
- 150g minced chicken
- 100g shitake mushrooms, finely chopped
- Small handful of shitake mushrooms sliced into fingers
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or pressed
- 1/2 tbsp spoon thyme
- Zest of half a lemon, finely grated
- Half a cup of cooking cream
- Salt and pepper
- Handful of parsley, finely chopped
Directions:
In a mixer, whip together the butter, mustard, herbs, and salt on medium speed until light and airy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time and beating well after each addition. Mix until incorporated. Add the flour and mix briefly.
Gather the dough into a smooth ball. Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
When the dough is nice and cold, roll it out on a lightly floured board or in between two sheets of plastic to fit your tart tins. If the dough tears while you roll or/and transfer into the pan, just patch it with your fingertips.
Refrigerate 30 minutes before baking. (You can freeze the dough for up to 3 months and prepare it up to 4 days in advance.)
To make the filling, heat some oil in a frying pan and sauté the onions till translucent. Add the mince and fry till golden brown. Add the chopped mushrooms, garlic, thyme and lemon and cook till fragrant and all the meat has cooked through.
Reduce heat and stir the cream through, together with salt and pepper to taste. Just before taking it off the heat, stir the chopped parsley in.
In a clean frying pan, heat up some butter and fry the sliced mushrooms until golden. Set aside.
Spoon the filling into the prepared tart shells. Top with the butter mushroom slices and bake in an oven preheated to 180ºC until the crusts have cooked through and the meat and mushrooms have taken on a golden brown hue.
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There are quite a few steps to it but you can make a larger batch of tart shells and freeze them. These are delightful little savoury bites for tea parties or for a buffet style get together. Enjoy!
