Mushroom and Leek Tart

I had a lot of cooking firsts last night:

*making dinner without any meat in it, on it, or next to it.

*cooking with puff pastry

*making my own salad dressing (which I did without a recipe. Go me!)

*working with leeks

And, I have to say, despite all my inexperience, I made an excellent dinner. I’ve always been a little intimidated of making anything involving dough. I have yet to perfect (or even do it well) the art of rolling out dough and after looking at the recipe for puff pasty I decided last night wasn’t the night to attempt it. (I think next week may be time for me to face my fear because I got some new mini tart pans and I’m anxious to make fruit tarts!) Anyway, after perusing through Martha Stewart’s Pies & Tarts (and after convincing myself that there was nothing wrong with using pre-made dough), I decided this would be the perfect introduction to tart making. I used this as a chance to take my store bought puff pastry to get familiar with it and see what would work and what wouldn’t.

So, here it is, my revised version of Martha Stewart’s recipe (her recipe was for leeks and olives):

Ingredients:

• 3 large leeks, white and pale green parts only
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 1 box store bought puff pastry, thawed
• 1 large egg with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
• 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 5 crimini mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 2 ounces gruyere, thinly sliced

Directions:

1 - Cut leeks crosswise into 3-inch pieces; halve each piece lengthwise, then cut into 1/2-inch-thick strips. Rinse well to remove any grit, and drain.

2 - Melt butter with oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add leeks and 1/4 teaspoon salt; cook, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until leeks are tender but not browned, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in thyme. Remove from pan and set aside to cool to room temperature.

3 - Return pan to stove and bring heat back to medium. Add mushrooms and the rest of salt to pan and cook in oil and butter left over from cooking the leeks. Cook until slightly tender. Remove from pan and set aside to cool to room temperature.

4 - Trim dough to a 14-by-6-inch rectangle. (If necessary, overlap edges of two smaller pieces to form a large rectangle. Press down edges of overlap to seal.) Place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Score a 3/4 inch border on all sides (do not cut all the way through). Brush border with egg wash; sprinkle with grated cheese. Refrigerate 30 minutes.

5 - Preheat oven to 375*. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes. Press down on center of shell with an offset spatula, leaving the edges raised. Arrange leeks end to end in within borders of crust. Scatter mushrooms over leeks. Bake until crust is golden brown, about 10 minutes. Using a wide spatula to lift to check bottom of crust; if it’s still soft bake an additional 3 to 5 minutes.

6 - Arrange Gruyere cheese over top. Using a spatula, slide tart to wire rack; let cool slightly. Cut crosswise into pieces; serve warm or room temperature.

And the complete dinner:

I made the salad with mixed greens, granny smith apples, and chopped walnuts. I made the dressing using white wine vinegar, coarse ground mustard, olive oil, honey and salt.