Recipe: Simple Mushroom Tart!

If you remember, I bought some mushrooms at the Richmond Specialty Mushroom Farms stall at the Trout Lake Farmers Market one weekend.



I bought a combination of crimini and portobellos, and rounded out the mix with some dried lobster mushrooms that I'd bought the same afternoon at Whole Foods.



I have to admit, as I was strolling about the farmers market that day, this recipe materialized in my head. An assortment of mushrooms sauteed with shallots in a light wine & cream base, and baked atop puff pastry. A variation on this would be a cream of mushroom soup with the puff pastry tops baked on to individual ramekins - yum!



...forgot to mention that I bought a pair of gigantuan shallots at the Langley Farmers Co-Op stall at Trout Lake as well: check them out! they were about three inches in diameter!

Ingredients
About 8 to 10 large mushrooms - I used crimini and portobello, sliced
1/3 cup dried lobster mushrooms
1 huge shallot, or 2-3 smaller ones, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t thyme
Salt & Pepper to taste
1/4 c Dry white wine
1/4 c cream
1 recipe rough puff pastry, chilled, or thawed overnight in refrigerator if previously frozen
2 T chopped parsley, divided

Method
Soak the lobster mushrooms in about 1 cup of cool water for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425ºF.

Meanwhile, prepare the fresh mushrooms by heating a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Saute the shallots, stirring to coat with oil. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Add garlic; cook 30 seconds, stirring. Add sliced fresh mushrooms and stir to coat with oil. Season with salt, pepper, and thyme, and cook 2-4 minutes, stirring. Add drained lobster mushrooms.

Deglaise the pan with white wine; allow to cook off and add cream. Cook until mixture has thickened slightly. Taste and reseason if necessary. Stir in 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley.

Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

Roll out puff pastry on a floured surface to a rectangle approximately 14" x 12". Using a long, sharp knife, trim the dough. Cut approximately 1/2 off each side of the rectangle for the border. Press these strips onto the rectangular base. Chill dough at this point if necessary.

Transfer crust onto parchment-lined baking sheet.

Spoon mushroom mixture onto puff pastry dough. Arrange any mushroom tops attractively on top. Sprinkle with remaining chopped parsley. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until pastry is crisp through. Enjoy warm.



I do have to say that this is very classically French. I don't know what drew me to make something like this - I guess clean, rich food and flavours?

Looking forward to cooking with more Farmers Markets finds this year!

Event: Trout Lake Farmers Market! (Trout Lake, Vancouver, BC)

This weekend marked the start of the Trout Lake Farmers Market season. Hosting a number of BC-based businesses and a lot of inspiration, artistic prowess, and entrepreneurship; it made me love BC a whole lot more.



I was expecting to see more fresh produce, but I must have gotten there a bit late (11am?). A lot of the produce stalls were nearly empty when I got there!

It was pretty packed and I had to circle around a couple times to find a good spot. Next time (when I am not so pressed for time!) I'll make an effort to walk or skytrain down.

Blue Comet stocked some smoked salmon products, while Geldermanfarms offered farm-fresh pork and pork products.

To round out the meat spectrum, Jay Springs Lamb had different cuts of lamb available for purchase, as well as something extra - yarn! There were lots and *lots* of beautiful shades of yarn at their stall, I only wished that I had brought more money so that I could stock up on some hand-dyed yarn! What was also nice was that it was quite reasonably priced - hand-dyed, variety of weights, variety of colours. I love it!



In the middle of the aisle a band was playing. I guess there were of the funky folk genre? They called themselves Blackberry Wood. I *love* that they had a trumpet player (who also was the lead singer) as well as an accordian player. :)



I wound up buying a whole bag of mushrooms from the Richmond Specialty Mushroom Farms stall and was quite enamoured with the bright beautiful packaging at Kalley Kandy. They sell one product - fresh nougat that is made in Vancouver and let me tell you, they are quite delicious! I shared some with my mother, hairdresser, and hairdressers' assistant, and they all asked me where I got them. It goes to show that fresh is better. :)




There were six pieces in a bag and each bag was $5 for one, or $9 for two. Kalley took the care to toast the almonds, so they were a nice crunchy contrast to the soft and tender nougat.



As I wasn't going home after the farmers market, I didn't pick up any leafy vegetables (as they'd probably wilt away to nothing by the end of the day). I'll have to make an effort to get to the Celyddon stall next time as the line up was enormous - I think it stretched to four stalls long at one point!



The most unique stalls went to Don Aspirin, for his beautiful presentation, cutting, and cheese boards, and the lady at the south end of the market with her antique, one-of-a-kind repurposed windchimes. The only problem if I ever bought one of the cutting boards would be that I wouldn't have the heart to really use them - they are that beautiful!

Afterwards I wound up at Whole Foods on Cambie. They had a vendors market, featuring some local entrepreneurs and their products. What impressed me though, was that Whole Foods had engineered some "green" aspects to their building design. The outside of the building had plants "tiled" along the exterior. Love it.



Here's to a local, green, long weekend. Have a good one!

The Trout Lake Farmers Market runs on Saturdays from 10am - 2pm at the Trout Lake parking lot at Victoria Drive & 15 Avenue. Every Saturday until October 10th!

More photos at my flickr photoset.