Amother bit of bounty from my weekend in Maine: Chanterelle, Gruyère and Thyme Tart with mushrooms that I foraged in the woods myself. Let me start with this disclaimer: If you do not know your wild mushrooms, please don’t go foraging; just buy them in the shops. Even if you know your mushrooms, please be exceptionally careful. I have been “mushroom hunting” with my father since I was a toddler and even I prefer to have a second set of eyes on them.
All that said, this is an absolutely delicious tart and very simple to make. In theory, you could also use straight up crimini from the shops, but the chanterelles have a lovely peppery bite to them. Lunch to wrap up the week.
Ingredients
1 sheet frozen puff pastry (half of 17.3-ounce package), thawed
1 large egg yolk, beaten to blend with 1 teaspoon water (for glaze)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, divided
2 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup half and half
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup thinly sliced shallots
1 1/2 pounds fresh chanterelle mushrooms
1/2 cup shredded Gruyère cheese
Directions
Preheat oven to 400F. Line a cookie sheet with silpat or parchment paper.
Lay out the puff pastry sheet, poke with a fork a few times, and baste with egg yolk. Par-bake the puff pastry for 5 minutes.
In a medium sized frying pan set on medium high heat, melt the butter. Add shallots and mushrooms and fry until the mushrooms have released the excess water (about 5 minutes). Drain and set aside.
To make the béchamel sauce, sauté garlic in a pan with the butter, until soft (about 3 minutes), on medium heat. Add flour, salt and pepper, and 2 teaspoons of thyme leaves, and whisk together until flour has absorbed the butter. Slowly add the half and half until while continuously whisking, until mixture has thickened and will coat the back of a spoon. Once done remove from heat.
Spread béchamel sauce over puff pastry. Spoon chanterelles and shallots over the béchamel sauce and sprinkle with Gruyère cheese. Bake tart for an additional 15 minutes or until the edges of the pastry is golden and puffy and the cheese has melted. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with additional thyme.
Serve warm or room temperature.
