Obedient To The Faith

Some may say Delia Smith's recipes are too dated, but I rather think most of her recipes are classics with a big C for Comfort. This tart is one. It is a perennial favourite of mushroom lovers, and is versatile to eat warm or cold, for breakfast, brunch or as an appetizer. The filling of this tart in her recipe is a mixture of dried porcini and mixed mushrooms but here I used dried poricni and cremini mushrooms.

Dried porcini has a fragrant mushroomy aroma and adds wondrous grace to this tartlet. I like the added parmesan in the tart shell too, and that gives the tart a nice savoury base.

Baked Eggs In Wild Mushroom Tartlets
Delia Smith
makes 6


Ingredients
For the pastry
75g soft butter
175 plain flour, sifted
40g Parmesan, finely grated

For the filling
6 large eggs
25g dried porcini
175g open cap mushrooms
175g chestnut mushrooms
75g butter
2 small red onions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic,chopped
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 heaped tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
25g Parmesan, finely grated, for sprinkling over the tarts
sea salt and freshly milled black pepper


Method

• Begin by placing the porcini in a bowl. Pour 200ml boiling water over them and leave to soak for 30 minutes.
• Now make the pastry. this can easily be done in a processor or by rubbing the butter into the flour and stirring in the grated Parmesan and sufficient cold water (about 3 tablespoons) to mix to a soft but firm dough. Place the dough in a plastic bag and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest. this pastry will need a little more water than usual as the cheese absorbs some of it.
• For the filling, heat 50g of the butter in a heavy=based frying pan, add the onions and garlic and fry until they are soft and almost transparent (about 15 minutes). While that's happening, finely chop the chestnut and open-cap mushrooms. When the porcini have had their 30 minutes'soaking, place a sieve over a bowl and strain them into it, pressing to release the moisture. You can reserve the soaking liquid and freeze it for stocks or sauces if you don't want to throw it out. Then chop the porcini finely and transfer them with the other mushrooms to the pan containing the onions. Add the remaining 25g of butter, season and cook till the juices of the mushrooms run, then add the lemon juice and parsley.
• Raise the heat slightly and cook the mushrooms without a lid, stirring from time to time to prevent them sticking, until all the liquid has evaporated and the mixture is of a spreadable consistency. This will take about 25 minutes. While the mushrooms are cooking, pre-heat the oven to 200C.
• Now roll out the pastry to a thickness of 1/8 inch and cut out 6 rounds, re-rolling the pastry if necessary. Grease the tins with a little melted butter and line each tin with the pastry, pushing it down from the top the pastry will not shrink while cooking. Trim any surplus pastry from around the top and prick the bask with a fork. Now leave this in the fridge for a few minutes until the oven is up to temperature.
• Now, place the tins on a solid baking sheet and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 15-20 minutes until the pastry is golden and crisp. Remove them from the oven and reduce the temperature to 180C.
• Divide the filling between the tarts, making a well in the centre with the back of a spoon. Then break an egg into a saucer or a small ramekin, slip it into the tart and scatter a little Parmesan over the top.'
• Repeat the process with the other five tarts and return them to the oven for 12-15 minutes until they are just set and the yolks are still soft and creamy.

Serve straight away, because if they wait around the eggs will go on cooking.

Note: I made 2 tarts, froze one shell and made 1 portion of the filling..

Linking this post to Cook Like A Star, "All Stars Anniversary" hosted by Joyce, Kitchen flavours,
Zoe, Bake for Happy Kids and Mich, Piece of Cake.

........obedient to the faith.