It was my cooking compadre's idea to make the mushroom tart for brunch. She looked at a few recipes and had an idea of what it should be like: very mushroom forward (no eggs - we didn't want a quiche) with a nutty cheese. Both of us feel strongly that leeks are the right choice. They have such a buttery flavor, are ‘brighter’ than onions or shallots and they are a perfect taste companion to the mushrooms and the cheese. As we made it we collaborated on how it tasted - whether we should use ricotta or cream to bind the filling. We disagreed on herbs - I wanted to add thyme and she did not so we went without. She had an idea of what it should taste like and we went with it. I did add thyme as an optional ingredient.
This is the sentence where I whine about forgetting to bring my camera and having to take pictures with my ancient Blackberry...
The only thing that I think we both would change is that we used a press-in tart crust - one she has used before and likes a lot (I do too!). It just didn't have enough structure for the filling which was not heavy, but relatively dry. Oh well, adventures in baking! The tart was delicious and we will definitely make it again.
RECIPE: MUSHROOM, LEEK & GRUYÈRE TART
