This puff pastry tart is so easy to make, as long as you have the time to take care of the pastry!
The pastry needs to warm up to room temperature for rolling (to make it more pliable), and then to cool down before baking (so the buttery layers remain separate).
Although many recipes recommend adding the topping onto the raw pastry, I find that this often results in an unpleasant soggy middle. I therefore like to part cook the pastry, until it's nice and golden, before adding the stilton and mushrooms.
As the stilton only needs to melt, and the mushrooms are already cooked, there's no danger of a raw topping, so it's a win/win in my book!
Serves 4 as a light lunch
250g puff pastry
250g of chestnut mushrooms
Butter
Olive oil
Seasoning
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
Plain flour
1 egg
100g Stilton
Handful of flat leaf parsley
- Remove the pastry from the fridge (if refrigerated).
- Wipe, then slice the chestnut mushrooms.
- Melt a large knob of butter in a sauté or frying pan, with a splash of olive oil, over a medium heat.
- Add the mushrooms and stir.
- Remove the thyme from the stalks and add to the pan, along with some seasoning.
- Sauté the mushrooms until they are lightly golden. Remove from the pan and set aside to cool.
- Dust the worktop with plain flour and roll out the pastry into a rectangle approx. 16cm x 26cm (0.3-0.4cm thick).
- Lay the pastry on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.
- Using a sharp knife, score a line 1cm in from the edge of the pastry, around all sides of the rectangle (this will form the 'crust').
- Whisk the egg and then brush it over the pastry.
- Place the baking tray (with pastry on top!) in the fridge for 15 minutes.
- Heat the oven to 200°C.
- After 15 minutes, remove the pastry from the fridge and place in the hot oven for 10-15 minutes until golden brown (this helps to prevent a soggy middle).
- Remove the pastry from the oven and crumble the stilton over the pastry (except for the crust).
- Top with the mushrooms and return to the oven for a further 15 minutes.
