Potato Mushroom Puff Pastry Tart
A visual step-by-step guide
April 6, 2020
This recipe came to me as I foraged my kitchen for ingredients I wanted to use before they went bad and others that would compliment those. This is normally how I cook, but especially now. I enjoy the creativity that comes with only using what I have on hand.
The puff pastry is the star of the show here, in my opinion. It lives in the freezer, store bought and easy to use. It adds such a great look and texture to whatever you use it for. It comes in handy when you want to make something special and uncomplicated.
Here’s how to make this tart:
Everything you’ll need
Yield: (2) 10”x15” tarts
Servings: 8 if eaten as a snack or appetizer
Ingredients
1 frozen package puff pastry sheets (I used Pepperidge Farm sheets)
4 medium size potatoes, skin on or off
8-10 ounces of mushrooms- cleaned and dry (I used creminis)
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt (have extra handy)
Small bundle of sage
Sea salt enough for light sprinkling
1 Tablespoon truffle oil (or more or less depending on your taste)
Right before you begin your first step remove the puff pastry from the freezer to thaw out while you work. You can leave it in the box. It should be ready when you’re done prepping all the other ingredients. Then get a medium size pot of water ready to boil.
With a mandolin or sharp knife slice your potatoes into 1/8’’ pieces. If you don’t already own a mandolin I suggest you consider adding it to your kitchen collection. It’s extremely useful when wanting to slice evenly and quickly. I do caution you, though, it is extremely easy to cut off the tip of your finger so do use carefully. Here’s the link to where I purchased mine.
Blanch (boil) sliced potatoes for about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes, or until partially cooked. This is to ensure they are cooked all the way through after you bake them.
Drain the water and pat dry the potatoes with a rag or paper towels. In a medium size bowl lightly coat potatoes with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Reserve at room temperature for assembly later.
Keeping the stems in the mushrooms, cut them lengthwise to get that full mushroom outline and keep them about 3/4 of an inch thick so when they cook down they still have meat to bite into.
In a medium saute pan on medium high heat pour 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil and add mushrooms once the oil is hot. Toss the mushrooms a bit then don’t touch them for at least two minutes in order to give them time to brown. Toss mushrooms again and allow them to get more color on other sides, add 1 teaspoon salt and cook until they are just cooked through. Taste to see if they need more salt. Do not over cook since they will finish in the oven. Take off heat and reserve at room temperature until you assemble your tarts.
Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.
On a lightly floured surface, unfold your puff pasty sheets. They may still be a bit cold- that’s ok. The important thing is that you can open them without them snapping because they’re too hard. On the other hand, if they feel too soft and sticky place them back in the freezer for 5 minutes or until you can handle the dough. It should be cool, firm, and malleable.
Using a ruler or by sight, score (cut but not all the way through) a 1/2 inch border around each tart. Inside the border poke holes using a fork. This will keep the center area from puffing up while your border will rise beautifully.
Now it’s time to assemble your tart with your potatoes and mushrooms. Now, this is up to you, but for aesthetic purposes I evenly lined up the potatoes and mushrooms. On one tart at least. On the other one I scattered the mushrooms because they were broken. For the potatoes I simply overlapped them. Just be sure to lay out your toppings evenly.
Coat your sage in a little olive oil and place a few where you wish.
Make an egg wash by adding adding 1 tablespoon of water to 1 egg and beat together just until the water incorporates. With a pastry brush or your fingers, brush egg wash on the border. This will add a golden color to your crust.
Place parchment paper onto your sheet tray(s) then the tarts on top. Bake at 400 degrees for about 20-25min or until the edges are very golden brown. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle sea salt across both tarts. Just enough to give a touch more of salt. Lastly, lightly drizzle truffle oil across the tarts. The sea salt and truffle oil are optional toppings but recommended.
Voila! There they are in all their glory.
Look at that flaky poof. Puff pastry is a laminated dough. Meaning it is layered with butter and flour and when it hits the heat steam is created and it pushes up the dough creating the signature puffed look.
Allow to cool for 10 minutes then cut into quarters and eat!
These tarts are best served fresh from the oven. They can sit out at room temperature all day, but if you don’t finish them the first day wrap and keep in the refrigerator and toast them back up in the oven for the best texture.
Use this recipe as inspiration to come up your own type of tart. The possibilities are endless for both savory and sweet creations.