Recipe: Mushroom, leek, and blue cheese pop tarts with walnuts and tarragon

Olivia Moore cooks up mushroom, leek and blue cheese pop tarts with walnuts and tarragon. Photo / Olivia Moore

These hot, saucy morsels are absolutely oozing with flavour and texture!

Using some of my favourite winter vegetables, with walnuts, blue cheese, and aromatic tarragon, they make a seriously delicious lunch or dinner, served alongside your favourite salads and sides. Serve them piping hot, while the filling is nice and gooey.

Visit Olivia’s website for more recipes: www.thatgreenolive.com

Ingredients

Makes 8

• 25g dried shiitake mushrooms
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 red onion, finely diced
• 2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
• 350g leeks (about 1 large), thinly sliced
• 350g Swiss brown mushrooms, diced 1cm
• 50g butter
• 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp wholegrain mustard
• 1 tsp dried tarragon
• 1 tsp salt
• 100g cream cheese
• 250ml whole milk
• 75g walnuts, toasted and chopped
• 50g blue cheese, crumbled
• 450g butter puff pastry dough

Instructions

1. Place the dried shiitake mushrooms in a small bowl and pour over 250ml boiling water. Leave for 30 minutes to rehydrate, then remove the mushrooms and chop them. Reserve the soaking water.
2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, coriander seeds and fennel seeds. Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onion is translucent, then add the Swiss brown and rehydrated shiitake mushrooms.
3. Cook for 7-8 minutes until the mushrooms have released their juices, then add the butter and leeks. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the leeks are soft.
4. Remove from heat and stir through the milk, cream cheese, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, tarragon, salt, a good season of pepper and the reserved shiitake soaking water. Allow to cool completely.
5. Once cool, preheat oven to 200C fan bake. Line a large baking tray with baking paper.
6. Roll the pastry out to a large rectangle roughly 2mm thick. Slice into 16 identical rectangles.
7. Cut two small slits in the centre of half of the rectangles. Lay the remaining eight rectangles on your baking tray, and spoon about 3 tbsp worth of the filling in an oblong down the centre of each. Divide the walnuts and blue cheese evenly over the centre of each.
8. Using a pastry brush or your finger, wet the dough all around the edges of one rectangle, then lay one of the slit rectangles over top. Press the edges and crimp with a fork to seal. Repeat with the remaining pastry and filling.
9. Brush each tart generously with egg wash, especially around the edges. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until nicely browned and pastry is cooked through. Allow to cool slightly, before serving hot.

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