Serves: 4-6
Sour cream pastry is one of my favourite to make-mainly because even those of us not blessed with a light touch can produce a flaky crust. It has a rich, soft dough which should be chilled to firm up for about an hour before rolling out. As for the mushrooms, any tasty fungi will do. I have suggested a mixture of wild and chestnut mushrooms. If you want to keep the cost down you could buy chestnut and add a handful of dried porcini to give some intense flavour. Simply soak them in boiling water for a few hours before adding to the cultivated mushrooms.
Ingredients
- For the sour cream pastry
- 225g plain flour, plus extra for rolling out
- 200g cold salted butter
- 110g sour cream (full fat)
- For the mushrooms
- 1 tablespoon sunflower oil
- 175g echalion shallots, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
- 500g wild mushrooms, washed and roughly chopped
- 300g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped thyme leaves
- 1 tablespoon semolina or polenta
- To serve Thyme leaves and sour cream
Method
- Put the flour in a food processor and add the butter in cubes. Blend until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the sour cream and pulse 3 or 4 times-just enough so the dough is starting to come together.
- Tip out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and bring together to form a smooth dough. Try not to overwork it. Press out to a thickish round and wrap in cling film. Chill for 1 hour.
- For the mushrooms, heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the shallots. Cook over a low heat, stirring regularly, for 8-10 minutes until the shallots are soft but not coloured. Add the garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes. Turn the heat up to high and add the mushrooms. Cook for about 10 minutes until the mushrooms are soft and all the moisture has evaporated. Stir in the thyme and season with salt and ground black pepper. Cool.
- Heat the oven to 200˚c, fan oven 180˚c, mark 6. On a lightly floured surface roll out the pastry to a circle, about 34cm diameter. Sprinkle the semolina over a flat non-stick baking sheet and place the pastry in the centre. Spread the mushroom mixture over the pastry, leaving a margin of about 4 cm. Bring the pastry up to cover the edge of the mushrooms. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until the pastry is firm and golden. Scatter over some thyme sprigs and serve each slice with a spoonful of sour cream.
