Tart

When I was a wee nipper, I once ate so much pie I was quite sick in my sleep. It was a rather traumatising experience; I tried to wake my mum up but she just grunted and rolled away from me. Luckily, my sister was easier to rouse. She wasn't best impressed when she returned from her nasty chore to her bed to find me asleep in it.

Ever since then, I've had an aversion to pastry, shortcrust in particular. I've been trying to get over this, starting with the pasties in Cornwall and so far it seems to be working. Puff pastry is easier for me to deal with, although it's something I don't use a lot due to it's high fat content. I threw caution to the wind and made a mushroom tart.

Mushroom Tart

Serves 2

5 large closed cap mushrooms, sliced

1 tbsp dried porcini mushrooms, rehydrated

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tbsp finely chopped flat leaf parsley

3 tbsp creme fraiche

Enough puff pastry to make 2 6"x 4" tarts - I used 1/2 a block of unrolled pastry

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees celcius. Fry the garlic until softened, then add all the mushrooms. Fry until softened, making sure there isn't too much liquid. Add the creme fraiche and the parsley and take off the heat. Season to taste. Roll out the pastry and make an indentation about 2 cm from the edge, all the way round. Leave to rest for 5 mins, then spread the mushroom mixture on the base. Wash with egg and bake for 15 - 20 minutes.

I served this with griddled red onions, courgettes and aubergines dressed with a little extra virgin olive oil and lime juice, and some broccoli on the side.

The pastry was lovely and light and complemented the earthy mushrooms well. The parsley really helped to cut through the creaminess of the sauce. Shortcrust pastry (maybe even home-made) will be next...