Well, 2011 is coming to an end and it looks like 2012 is going to be a great year! I've got some big changes on the horizon, but until the details get hammered out mum's the word--stay tuned for future updates!
This afternoon my family is gathering at my grandma's house to celebrate my cousin Phillip joining the Marines, which will transition into our annual New Year's Eve gathering. I came across a recipe for mushroom tartlets yesterday and thought they sounded pretty good, and using the basic "mushroom in a pastry cup" idea, I created my own mix of ingredients.
These little guys are super easy.
1 yellow onion, chopped into pretty small pieces
5 (or whatever you want!) pearl onions, cut into small pieces
8 ounces crimini mushrooms, chopped
a handful or so of fresh baby spinach, chopped
1/4 cup grated Swiss cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed and rolled to 16'' by 12'' and cut into 4'' by 4'' squares
feta cheese to top as needed
You start by caramelizing the onion until it's nice and golden. Then add the chopped mushrooms and cook them down until you're satisfied with them. It's important to get a lot of the moisture out, or they'll weep a lot when you bake the tartlets and make things too mushy.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Once the mushrooms have cooked down I chopped a bit of spinach and stirred it in to wilt. This mixture was then put aside and let cool so that the cheese and sour cream wouldn't completely melt/burn on the hot pan.
In the meantime I rolled out my puff pastry, cut the squares, and put them into a mini muffin pan. 1 sheet of pastry will make 12 cups (more if you do 3x3 squares, which would probably work just as well). I rolled the edges of my pastry cups, while my mom left a few with pointy edges. It's really up to you!
The little puff pastry cups then got a good dose of the mushroom filling--it's probably more than a tablespoon, I can't say for sure. Just divide evenly. I then sprinkled just a touch of feta cheese on top of the cups.
Bake 12-15 minutes, until the edges of the pastry are golden, and the feta on top is beginning to brown. Super easy, right?
