chestnuts and mushrooms and chevre, oh my!

I got this recipe a few days ago in an email newsletter. Allow me to back up…

A few months ago, one of the free ebook emails I get daily had a link to something called My Grape Year. The price was right (free that day, after all) and it sounded like fun so I downloaded it. I so enjoyed Laura Bradbury’s writing that I ended up buying the other books in her “Grape” memoir series. Then, in true fan fashion I signed up for her newsletter. That’s how I got this recipe.

I want to share it here just as she sent it out, then tell you what I changed the first time I made it and what I will change next time (and there *will* be a next time – it was good!). Here’s Laura Bradbury‘s recipe word for word:

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Savory Tarte of Chestnuts, Goat Cheese, and Mushrooms
To begin, you’ll need a batch of Marie’s French pastry. If you follow the directions below, divide the pastry ball in half and freeze the half you don’t use.
Marie’s French Pastry
Ingredients
2 cups (250 grams) flour
1 cup (125 grams) salted or half-salted butter 1/2 small glass (about 1/3 cup) water
Pinch of salt
Method
Brace yourselves. This is tough.
1. Measure ingredients and add in no particular order into a food processor with an “S” blade, a stand mixer, or a humble bowl.
2. Press the “mix” option button or squish with your hands until ingredients have formed a ball-like object that has detached from the sides of mixer or bowl—about a minute or two.
3. Remove pastry (voilà, you have just made pastry!) ball from food processor, wrap in
cellophane, flatten a bit into a disk, and put in fridge for at least an hour before using.
4. 1 pastry ball is the perfect amount for a 6–8 person quiche or tart. You may have a bit left over (minitarts!). Lasts 3–4 days in the fridge and freezes wonderfully, so you can always have some pastry on hand.
To make the tarte
Ingredients
Half ball of Marie’s French pastry
3 to 4 cups (500 grams) button mushrooms—you can freestyle the mushroom variety
1/2 log plain goat cheese (I usually add more because I love goat cheese)
1/2 cup (10 cl) heavy cream or crème fraiche
1 egg
1 tbsp (15 grams) butter
3/4 cup (50 grams) prepared chestnuts, quartered
salt and pepper to taste
Method
1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
2. On a floured surface, roll out the pastry, and lay in quiche dish.
3. Cut off the mushroom feet, and slice the caps.
4. Melt butter in a large pan, and add mushrooms. Stir until all the moisture from the
mushrooms is absorbed and they are nicely browned.
5. Add pinch of salt and pepper.
6. In a bowl, stir the egg and cream until mixed.
7. Place the mushrooms and chestnuts evenly on the pastry in your quiche dish.
8. Slice goat cheese into rounds, and arrange them evenly on top of the mushrooms and chestnuts.
9. Pour the egg and cream mixture over top. 10. Bake for 25 minutes.
Wonderful served with a lovely green salad—baby arugula with freshly grated parmesan, a drizzle of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, and generous pepper. Bon appétit!
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Nothing too complicated here. In fact the most difficult part might be finding chestnuts other than in the winter. I have a few jars in my pantry, so that wasn’t an issue. A bit vague on the size and kind of pan as well, but if you’ve been reading my blog for a while you know that I can be, um, a tad loose on details myself, so that served me right.

I’ve been cooking for myself long enough that I think I can usually “taste” a recipe just from reading it and this sounded really good, so I gave it a shot. I warned my good friends that I was bringing an untried dish and, because they are good friends, no one groaned. Happily it turned out fine.

Now, oddly I couldn’t find a log of goat cheese here in central Texas right before Christmas. I was told “there seems to be a problem with the goats”. I have no idea what that means but I found goat cheese “crumbles” and they worked fine. Next time, though, I’ll hope to find a log as described above as the crumbles did tend to fall off when I sliced the tarte.

chestnuts and goat cheese and ‘shrooms, oh my!

Next time I plan to add another 1/2 cup of cream and one more egg to make it a bit more quiche-y. I think that will hold the ‘shrooms together a bit better for serving. And, as I said, she doesn’t mention what sort or size of quiche/tarte pan she uses. Mine is ceramic so I kept the oven temperature the same but added about 15 minutes to the cooking time. Perfect.

I made a half recipe of pastry, easy enough. Figure I’ll make more fresh next time. So it was 1 cup of flour, 1 stick of salted butter, a pinch of salt, a couple of dashes of cold water… but you could buy a pre-made crust (shhhhh) or even a GF one… as suits you. Oh, and I docked the dough, of course… but you know to do that, right?

Anything I’m forgetting to mention? Just all the best for a happy healthy New Year and, as always, bon appétit!!

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