...and the queen said "off with his head"

John made a really great tart yesterday, mushrooms with stilton cheese. the apartment had that really pungent smell of the stilton while he was making it and it tasted delish. tart making can be very different depending on whether you're doing sweet or savory. and even among the sweet there are very different methods. the biggest difference between baking and other types of cooking is that with some forms of baking it's all about measuring. sometimes its an exact science, just the right amount of wet to dry ingredients or you could wind up with an inedible mess. with cooking other things it really can be a pinch of this or a dash of that, or leave in one thing or substitute for something else you might prefer; but not with certain forms of baking. people who always follow recipes will argue about my cooking methods but i understand that some people like to follow a recipe every single time so that the dish always comes out the same. they've even quantified the "pinch" and "dash" method! no really, you can find actual measurements in cookbooks that will specify what a "pinch" or a "dash" should actually be! that's a little too OCD even for me. you can check out the measurement conversions over there if your're interested. it is actually a valuable tool for some of those old recipes that someone wrote down for you and will at least give you a starting point from which you can create your own preferences.
ok, so the title, tarts always remind me of alice in wonderland and the part where the jack of hearts steals the tarts and the queen of hearts says "off with his head" which she seemed to say alot. and the recipe, well, it belongs to michael chiarello so the link to his web site is over there under "mushroom tart" and the recipe is below too if you want to try it. i think you should, or it's OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!






HERE'S THE RECIPE

2 lb cleaned, mixedmushrooms, (sliced or quartered depending on variety)
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 shallots, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly chopped thyme
2 tablespoons minced parsley
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1 egg-well beaten
8 oz crumbled blue cheese
1 sheet frozen puff pastry-thawed
Flour for dusting work surface

1 lb dry beans for baking crostata shell


Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Heat two large saute pans over high heat. Working in batches divide the olive oilbetween the two pans. When the oil is hot but not quite smoking, add themushrooms, season with gray salt and pepper, add the butter to each pan andallow to caramelize. Once mushrooms havecooked down to half their volume, transfer all mushrroms to one pan. Add the shallots and garlic and cook untilthe light brown and fragrant. Add thethyme until it crackles. Add the cream and bring up to a simmer. Reduce thecream by about half and stir in the grated parmesan, and the lemon juice. Shutoff the flame and quickly stir in the beaten egg. Remove from the stove and letcool to room temperature. Add parsleyand stir.

While mushroom mixture is cooling, roll out the pastry doughon a floured surface. Roll the dough out so that it will line a 10ý removablebottom tart pan. Line the dough with parchment paper and fill with the drybeans. Bake for 10-12 minutes, remove from the oven and let cool to roomtemperature.

Lower oven temperature to 400 degrees F.

When both the filling and shell have cooled to roomtemperature fill the shell with the mushroom mixture and top with the crumbledblue cheese. Arrange the tart mold on a cookie sheet and bake for 20-30minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature beforeserving. Slice in wedges and serve.

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