Wild Mushroom Tart Recipe by Don King
(roughly one hour of prep and one hour of baking, serves 4)
Preheat oven with pizza stone for at least one hour at 375F. If you don’t use a pizza stone, preheat oven normally.
Crust:
• 1 and 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 6 tablespoons COLD butter, cut into small cubes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup ice water
Mix flour and salt. Coat butter with flour, then pinch into smaller pieces. Add ice water until dough just comes together. If it’s too dry, add a little more water. Dump onto floured surface and form a disc. For a flakier crust, fold crust in thirds over itself a few times, rolling gently with a rolling pin in between. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Filling:
• 1 and 1/2 or more pounds of fresh mushrooms
• 2 onions (or mixture of onions, ramps, shallots, etc.)
• 4 T butter
• ½ cup or more of crème fraîche, sour cream, or yogurt
• 1/2 cup white wine
• Fresh thyme
• 1 T oil
• A little grated parmesan cheese
Caramelize onions (or ramp whites) in butter over low heat, stirring occasionally. In a separate skillet, cook mushrooms in oil over medium-high until nice and brown. Deglaze with wine, add onions, thyme, and enough sour cream to thicken. Let the mixture cool slightly so it doesn’t melt the crust in the next step.
Roll out crust on floured surface. Add filling, sprinkle with cheese, fold extra crust around filling (for a shinier, darker crust, brush with cream or beaten egg). Transfer to preheated pizza stone (a pizza peel comes in handy here) and bake at 375 for 45 mins to an hour, until crust is golden brown. Let cool for a few minutes, then cut into slices.
This is a VERY rich dish that should serve 4. Goes great with a salad (I’d recommend something with a vinaigrette to balance the richness). Steamed veggies seasoned with lemon juice would also work well.
Don’t have a pizza stone? No worries, just bake it on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.