Mushroom Tart

I had to prepare something for a potluck. I can't really cook and since it's all girls, I wanted something light. Pasta, salads and desserts were taken so I didn't know what to do.

I decided to make a mushroom tart. I wanted it to taste like Delissimo' thin crust mushroom medley pizza. That is a wonderful pizza, with this amazing cream sauce/cheese.

I looked at my recipe books but the tart shell needed a food processor to pulse the ingredients. I don't have a food processor. I thought about mixing by hand but I know that without proper instructions, my pastry will be hard as a rock.

I started googling mushroom tart and saw a bunch of recipes but they didn't appeal to me because not enough cheese, I didn't like the pastry, using goat cheese (which some might not like) or too much work.

I did find one on the food network site but it asked for blue cheese. I LOVE blue cheese! Really I do. I sometimes melt it in my rice or usually have it on my burger but blue cheese and mushroom?? Also, I wasn't sure if other people would like blue cheese, as it's quite strong. In the comment section, people used feta cheese but that wasn't the taste or texture I wanted.

So I kept searching...

I found a website called zencancook.com and he had a mushroom tart. It was a very simple recipe. His website was looked great and so I read about him. He's a real chef and worked with Michelin chefs before.

Anyways, back to my tarts....




So I went grocery shopping at Save on Foods because I thought they would have creme fraiche, as I know my regular Safeway does not have. And I find Urban Fare too expensive for all the other ingredients (forums mentioned that creme fraiche could be found at Urban Fare).

Unfortunately, Save On didn't have. It was 9:30pm and was worried that if I got to Urban Fare, it would be closed or they didn't have it. But to make my own creme fraiche, I needed 24 hours. So I decided to buy whipping cream and buttermilk to make my own.

Unfortunately, they sold 1 litre whipping cream and sold out in smaller amount. I had no choice to buy but I don't know what I'll do to use up the whipping cream. Buttermilk, I can bake. But whipping cream???



So I mixed 1cup whipping cream and 2tbsp buttermilk. Here is my mixture, it's quite liquid. Leave it for 24hrs to thicken up and form creme fraiche.




My 2lb mushroom.


After slicing the mushrooms, I added garlic, green onion and thyme. I'm not sure how to prepare thyme. Do I include the stalk?



Then I mixed my creme fraiche, ricotta cheese and egg yolk.



I rolled out my puff pastry and cut it into small squares. I put the ricotta mixture, then slice of guyiere cheese (how do u pronounce this cheese?) and mushroom mixture.



Bake then voila!!






It was yummy!!!

So now that I have creme fraiche, whipping cream and buttermilk, I'll be baking and cooking for next few days.

By the way, you can get this recipe at www.zencancook.com. I think it would make a nice light lunch or if you are daring and cooking a meal for Valentine's Day, this could be a starter.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!




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