Mushrooms have been our favorite family food and I have seen my mother cooking the quintessential mushroom and green pea curry, almost every week. She used to add a bit of yogurt to give the curry a richness and also a bit of sour flavor. That was one curry, which I used to love and would wipe my bowl clean with an unleavened bread.
My mother used to tell us proud stories, how her father {my grandfather} included these in their family food. But those were the wild variety, which would grow up during rainy season. According to my mother, my grandfather smartly knew which one were edible and to be picked up. And those would taste far better than the cultivated ones we get normally.
I as a child, never got to taste those wild mushrooms, but I always thoroughly enjoyed my mother’s repeated stories about them and remained nonetheless contented. Even today, she sometimes enjoys telling those old stories. Probably, this story telling takes her back to her childhood days and she likes taking us along as well to her times.
Recently, I got to have wild mushroom risotto at two of the restaurants, I visited with friends and I really liked the taste of both versions. Taste of wild mushrooms really paired well with the sharp cheeses that must have gone into the dishes. If accompanied with a light salad and a glass of red wine, that could turn into one gourmet meal.
And that taste and my mother’s interesting food story inspired me to bake/cook something with wild mushrooms. So I baked this wild mushroom tart from Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. Sadly I could not find fresh mushrooms and had to resort to the dried ones I found at a local grocery store, a mix of shitake and oysters.
The crust was perfectly buttery and crumbly, to which I had added whole wheat flour too. Mix of shitake, oyster and button mushrooms paired really well with smoked gouda and the parmesan reggiano cheeses. Mascarpone added to the richness. And the red onions brought in the sweetness to balance out the sharp flavor of cheese and mushrooms.
A perfect Sunday brunch tart, to be served with a light green salad and to be enjoyed with friends and family!
Ingredients
Tart Crust:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
85 gm butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
Filling:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
2 medium red onions, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove minced
400 gm button mushrooms, sliced
250 gm wild mushrooms (mix of shitake and oyster), sliced
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tsp fresh oregano leaves
1 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup mascarpone cheese {homemade recipe}
1/4 cup milk
2 large eggs
1/2 cup grated gouda cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- For the crust, pulse both flours, cornmeal and salt in a food processor. Add chopped butter and pulse 15-20 times, to make fine crumb.
- Add the egg and pulse for another 10 times to bring the crumbs together.
- Place the dough between two large sheets of cling wrap to form a round disc. Roll the dough into a 12 inch circle. Peel one side of cling wrap and invert the rolled pastry loosely onto a 9 inch tart pan. Using your finger tips, gently snug the pastry into the tart pan, peel the other cling wrap. Cover with aluminium foil and bake for 10 minutes in a 375 degree C oven.
- Remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes, until tart becomes golden.
- For the filling, heat butter and oil in a pan. Add onions and garlic and cook on medium heat until onions become pale and translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the sliced mushrooms, oregano and thyme leaves and cook for about 10 minutes, until all the water from mushrooms is evaporated and mushrooms are cooked through. Add salt and pepper and mix well.
- In a bowl, whisk mascarpone with milk. Add gouda and parmesan cheese and mix. Mix in cooked mushrooms.
- Preheat the oven at 350 degree C. Place the tart pan on a baking sheet, fill the tart shell with the filling. Bake the tart for 35 – 40 minutes, until filling is cooked through.
- Let cool for 10 minutes. Serve warm.
