Mushroom & Tarragon Tart

Ingredients

Cooks in:1 hour        Serves:4 - 6

For the pastry (if not using store-bought short crust pastry)

• 140g cake flour
• 70g cold butter, cut into cubes
• 3-4 Tbsp water
• A generous pinch of salt and pepper
• A large (24cm) deep-based loose-bottomed tart tin or cling form baking dish

For the filling

• 2 Tbsp butter and 4 Tbsp olive oil
• 500g mushrooms, roughly chopped (I used a mix of brown and button)
• 200g leeks, roughly chopped (about 6-8 baby leeks)
• 1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
• 1/2 tsp dried tarragon (or 1 tsp dried thyme or rosemary)
• 100g ricotta cheese, roughly crumbled
• 50g pecan nuts (a small handful), roughly chopped
• Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
• Generous pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 eggs + 150ml cream + 150ml milk, all mixed together in a measuring jug or bowl using a fork

What to do

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180C. Preferably using an electric stand or hand mixer, combine the ingredients until the pastry is just combined into a soft ball of dough. Wrap in cling film and chill for 15-20 minutes while you prepare the filling.

Note: When making the pastry, add the water in 2 stages as you might not need all of it to bring the pastry together.
If using store-bought short crust pastry, defrost and roll out gently.

2. After chilling, spray your tart tin with cooking spray, roll out the pastry gently until about half a centimeter thick. Line the tart tin with the pastry, prick the base a few times using a fork.

3. Then line your pastry shell with baking paper weighted down with lentils or rice grains and blind bake for 10-15 minutes until just starting to color. Remove the baking paper and weights and allow the tart shell to cool.

For the filling

1. In a large pan on med-high, heat the butter and olive oil until the butter just starts to sizzle. Add in the mushrooms and leeks and fry for 4-5 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and tarragon (or thyme or rosemary) and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat, tip into a mixing bowl and allow to cool for a few minutes.

2. Add in the ricotta, pecan nuts, lemon juice and salt and pepper and mix together. Then spoon these ingredients into the tart shell, pour over the egg, cream and milk custard mixture and bake at 180C for approximately 25 minutes until the custard is just lightly golden. Remove from the oven, allow to cool, remove from the tart tin and serve with a fresh green salad with parmesan shavings.

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