tart recipes

i’ve been asked to post the recipes for the tomato-olive and wild mushroom tarts that we made for christmas dinner. i don’t have the recipes with me — they were in a cookbook — but in the meantime, here is my approximation:

make the dough — you can probably use any pastry dough recipe. flour, salt, butter or shortening, ice water to get it to the right consistency. make enough for 16 4″ tarts.

when the dough is ready, roll it out and lay it into 4″ tart pans. we didn’t have these, so used 4 creme brulée cups, which worked great, and 12 muffin tins, which did not. so definitely invest in tart pans or creme brulée cups with low walls.

chill the dough in the tart pans for about 15 minutes. then add a filling (recipes to follow) and bake at… let’s say 350, since i can’t remember what the actual temperature was, for about 12-15 minutes or until crust turns golden and filling is hot and cheese is melted.

tomato-kalamata olive filling:
combine 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, 1 teaspoon each of sugar, salt, and black pepper, 1 clove minced garlic. i think there was one more ingredient but i’m not remembering it right now. spoon this mixture into the bottom of 8 prepared tarts. add a sprinkling of chopped basil, a heavy sprinkling of freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, and on top arrange 8 cherry tomato halves and 8 kalamata olives. bake.

wild mushroom filling:
soak 1 small package (1 ounce?) dried porcini or chanterelle mushrooms in a small bowl of hot water. in the meantime, chop 1 pound or so of cremini mushrooms (the brown kind commonly available at the grocery). melt 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan; add 1 chopped shallot or 1/2 small yellow onion, and 2 cloves garlic, minced. saute the shallot and garlic for a few minutes; add cremini and drained porcini mushrooms. saute until they are heated through but not too soft (take them off the heat before they release all their water). add salt and pepper to taste. slice up 2 large portobello mushrooms. saute these in 2 tablespoons butter for just a couple of minutes; they too should still be firm. add the juice of one lemon, cook just a minute more. spoon chopped cremini mixture into the bottom of 8 prepared tarts. add a heavy sprinkling of grated gruyere cheese. top with a few slices of portobello mushroom, and 1 tablespoon of creme fraiche. bake.