Recipes and styling Raphaella Frame-Tolmie Photographs Russell Smith Food assistant Leila Padayachi Ingredients:
- 2x 400g ready-to-roll puff pastry
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 4T olive oil
- 50g butter
- 1 small red onion, sliced in rings
- 1t sherry vinegar
- 300g mixed wild mushrooms (chanterelles, cèpes and golden trumpet mushrooms when possible but any mushrooms will work nicely)
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 125ml crème fraîche
- 50g Jarlsburg cheese, finely grated
- zest of 1 lemon
- 2T chopped chives
- watercress to garnish
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 200°C and line two baking trays with baking paper. Roll the pastry out to about . cm thick, and cut it into eight rectangles of approximately 16x8cm. Arrange four of the pastry bases on the lined baking tray, cover with another layer of baking paper and place the second lined baking tray on top of the pastry to weigh it down. Cut 15x7cm rectangles out of the middle of each of the remaining four pieces of pastry. Arrange the outer rectangles on the second baking tray, cover with a second layer of baking paper and place a third tray on top of the pastry to weigh it down. Place the stack of trays in the freezer for 30 minutes.
Remove the pastry from the freezer and lightly brush one side of the outer rectangles with beaten egg. Place each of these on top of the pastry bases to form a border. Lightly brush each pastry case with the remaining beaten egg and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown. Remove from the oven and place on a wire cooling rack.
Heat half of the oil and butter in a frying pan, and lightly saut. the onion for about 15 to 20 minutes, until the rings begin to caramelise. Remove the onion from the pan and set aside. Add the remaining olive oil and butter to the pan and add the sherry vinegar with the mushrooms. Saut. the mushrooms until they are golden brown and season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat and drain in a colander to get rid of any excess juices.
Place thec rème fraîche in a small bowl and fold in the Jarlsburg and lemon zest. Divide the mixture between the four tart cases, spreading it over the base of each one. Arrange the sautéd onion rings in the crème fraîche mixture and top with the mushrooms. Garnish with watercress.
SERVES 4
This recipe originally featured in the January/February 2013 issue of House and Leisure.
