These mushroom tarts would be an instant hit for any mushroom lover. Golden flaky puff pastry is topped with fried mushrooms in a roasted garlic cream sauce. They’re delicious hot or cold, and they make for a lovely lunch or snack. If it’s more convenient, you can make the creamy mushrooms ahead of time the day before you want to make the tarts. The filling works best when it’s added to the pastry while it’s cold, so making it the day before is ideal
Serves; Eight Cook time; One hour
You’ll need;
- One bulb of garlic
- One tablespoon of plant-based butter
- 200g thinly sliced white mushrooms
- 200g thinly sliced chestnut mushrooms
- One teaspoon of dried parsley
- One teaspoon of dried tarragon
- 25g cashews, soaked in hot water
- 50g firm tofu
- 100ml plant-based milk
- Two tablespoons of nutritional yeast
- 320g pre-rolled puff pastry
- A couple of tablespoons of plant-based milk to glaze the pastry with
- Optional; a tablespoon of finely diced rocket to serve
Method;
- Start by removing any loose skin from the bulb of garlic and slicing it in half horizontally. Add a pinch of salt to the cut sides of the garlic and loosely wrap in foil
- Roast the garlic at 220°C/200°C fan assisted for 30-35 minutes, then unwrap and leave it to cool. While the garlic roasts, soak the cashews in very hot water. I use boiled water, this just makes them easier to blend into a silky smooth sauce
- Next, melt the plant-based butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Once it’s melted add in the mushrooms and give them a stir. Fry the mushrooms for five minutes, stirring every now and then
- Then add in the parsley and tarragon and stir them through. Season to taste with salt and black pepper
- To make the roasted garlic cream sauce, carefully remove the roasted garlic from its skin and add it into a blender. Then add the cashews (discard the water they were soaking in), firm tofu, plant-based milk and nutritional yeast and blend until completely smooth. Season the sauce to taste with salt and black pepper
- Stir the sauce through the mushrooms, it should begin to thicken as you stir it through the mushrooms. Once it’s thickened, set the mushrooms aside to cool to room temperature
- Once you’re ready to make the tarts, take the pastry out of the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature.Carefully unroll the pastry and slice it into eight equal pieces
- Carefully score around the edges of each piece of pastry and use a fork to prick a few holes in the centre of the pastry. This is so the pastry won’t puff up in the middle while it bakes in the oven
- Equally divide the mushroom mixture onto each piece of pastry and brush the edges of the pastry with the plant-based milk
- Bake the tarts at 220°C/200°C fan assisted for 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown. Once they’re baked, leave them to cool for five minutes before serving. This is entirely optional, but I sprinkled mine with some finely chopped rocket once they came out of the oven
Bethany's Vegan Kitchen 