Now you all know, I'm sure, what a big fan I am of comfort food. Well, when Jus-Rol (the ready made/ready rolled pastry people) got in touch with me and suggested I might like to create something to honour British Pie Week (which is their very own confection and hooray to them for it), of course I said a big "yes please!".
If you're still in the dark as to what British Pie Week is all about (not that it's likely, but just in case), Jus-Rol have a web page to answer all your questions at http://jusrol.co.uk/british-pie-week/.
I'm quite proud to say that I have been getting along quite well with making my own pastry just lately, however, there's no way on this earth I shall ever be making my own puff pastry. It just seems like a strange kind of torture, when Jus-Rol make such a good ready made version! It rises beautifully into deliciously light, crisp and airy flakes of golden loveliness, I am quite sure I couldn't compete - so I don't - and that is why I chose to use puff pastry for my chicken, mushroom & black garlic slices. The choice honours both British Pie Week and Jus-Rol's reliability where both quality and flavour are concerned.
Of course, you know what I'm like by now and making a simple pie was out of the question. Far too predictable. I tossed various recipe ideas around in my head, but kept on coming back to the savoury slice that was the first idea to surface. They're basically hand held (well you can try!) savoury filled, small (well they were supposed to be small) pies that aren't pasties. The pastry flakes so much, that I would suggest when eating al fresco that you make sure you're near a duck pond, as I am positive the ducks would very much enjoy the flaky fallout - which will be fairly considerable. Oh - and don't attempt to eat one in a high wind or you may be left with a handful of filling as your pastry flies off into the wide blue yonder. Jus-Rol's puff pastry is REALLY puffy!
I would anticipate that just about everyone is familiar with the chicken & mushroom savoury slice. Many have been consumed in moments of random onset hunger and they are one of the staples of supermarket pie & pastry sections. However, you know what I'm like for wanting to give a bit of added value to my recipes and as Balsajo's black garlic is one of my new favourite things - and of course, it would be luscious with chicken and mushroom - I couldn't resist including it and hence the new chicken, mushroom & black garlic savoury slice was born.
Now if you haven't sampled black garlic, hie thee hence to your local supermarket and put that right. Black garlic is ordinary garlic that has been aged by the use of heat and humidity until it becomes thoroughly blackened, incredibly sweet and balsamicky (is that a word?) and not like ordinary raw garlic at all. It's just lovely and I have to resist eating it straight from the bulb, whenever I'm cooking with it. Oh and interestingly, it doesn't set of my garlic sensitivity - which is great.
The filling for the slices might seem a bit of a faff to prepare, but in reality it couldn't be any easier. It's simply a matter of a bit of a-chopping and a-peeling, heating up some stock and away we go with the frying pan.
It is very worthwhile making the filling several hours before you require it, so that it can cool right down. Trying to fill puff pastry rectangles as they dissolve under a hot filling is nothing short of guaranteed disaster. I know, I've tried it. So don't do that - make it early and chill it down. It's so much easier.
Also, please don't be put off at the thought of making the slices. That doesn't get any easier either when you are using Jus-Rol's ready rolled puff pastry sheets. Buy two, cut them into quarters and all the hard work has been done by the factory. You can sit back and accept the admiration and appreciation of your audience, without ever having broken a sweat. Perfect.
Now, I have a few Cook's Tips for you - it's been a while since any of those turned up, hasn't it!
Firstly, don't be tempted to add more vegetables than you need. The slices are intended to be primarily chicken, not vegetable. For instance, where the carrot is concerned, I say to use one small carrot, but in fact I used one third of a big donkey carrot as they have such a big carroty flavour. However, it's entirely up to you, just keep it small.
If you have a bunch of celery to hand, dig out the small sticks from the centre of the bunch. They are way more tender and sweet.
Now I know I've gone on rather about the black garlic, but in case you don't have any to hand, regular garlic will do just as nicely. Finely chop one clove and add it along with the onions and bacon etc. It will require more cooking than the black version.
Everyone might know this tip, but it's worth passing on just in case. Whenever you are cutting puff pastry, make sure to cut directly vertically downwards. Lift your knife and make the second cut and so on. When you draw a knife through the pastry, it bends the layers and can make the rise uneven.
Lastly, when egg washing, remember to paint liberally with your egg wash and THEN cut the steam holes. This prevents the holes from becoming clogged by cooked egg, which can make your slices burst at the seams.
I was so very pleased with the flavours. The chicken is right up there - as it should be - and softly tender. The mushroom has a definite presence, with the remainder of the vegetables acting as a harmonious choir in the background. The black garlic is subtly sweet and adds delicious umami to the whole. The pastry is light, crispy and tastes just great. I'm only pleased that there's just three in this family and there are four slices. That's lunch tomorrow sorted, then.
So there you are. No need to wait until next British Pie Week - get your slice on!
CHICKEN, MUSHROOM & BLACK GARLIC SLICES (serves 4)
Ingredients :
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 Knorr chicken stock pot
200ml hot water
1 tbsp olive oil
10g salted butter
half a medium onion, chopped finely
2 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, chopped finely
1 small carrot, diced finely
3" stick of celery, diced finely
half a tsp dried rosemary
sea salt & black pepper
1 mushroom, chopped finely plus 4 mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves of black garlic, chopped
1 heaped tbsp of plain flour
1 tbsp single cream
2 320g packs of Jus-Rol Puff pastry
1 beaten egg.
Method :
To make the filling, cut the two chicken breasts in half along their length, in order to reduce their thickness.
In a medium sized saucepan, add the water and chicken stock pot and heat until the stock pot has melted. Add the chicken and poach until just done. Remove the chicken to a bowl and reserve the stock.
In a frying pan, add the olive oil and butter and heat until the butter is melted.
Add the onion, bacon, carrot, celery and chopped mushroom and fry over a moderate heat until softened but not coloured. Add the rosemary and season with a pinch each of sea salt & black pepper. Add the sliced mushrooms and black garlic and continue to fry until the mushrooms have softened slightly.
Sprinkle over the plain flour and stir in. Reduce the heat under the pan, then add the reserved stock in small increments, stirring well in between each addition. You are looking for a thick sauce that coats the vegetables to a dropping consistency, but not runny, so you may well have unused stock left over.
Take each piece of chicken and, with two forks, shred the meat. Make sure to leave some of the chicken in small chunks, for texture. Add them to the pan with the vegetables as you go.
Stir the chicken into the sauce and add the single cream. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.
Decant the filling into a bowl and refrigerate until perfectly cool.
Taking the two sheets of pastry, cut each into four equal sized rectangles.
Place two rectangles each onto baking trays that have been lined with greaseproof paper or baking parchment.
Paint the edges of the four pastry rectangles with beaten egg, then pile a quarter of the chicken mixture into each of these rectangles, taking care to spread the filling evenly across each piece.
Take an unfilled rectangle of pastry and place it over the chicken mix, making sure that the edges meet evenly. Press down lightly around the edges. You may wish to just trim off the corners, to give a rounded appearance. Crimp the edges together, or seal by pressing a fork into the pastry to leave a nice pattern.
Egg wash the tops of the four slices and don't forget to cut two little holes in the top to let the steam escape. Decorate the tops with a light sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper.
Place into a pre-heated oven at 180degC/350degF/gas 4 for 40-45 minutes, until the pastry is risen and evenly golden brown.
Serve with baby potatoes, vegetables of your choice and a yummy chicken gravy.
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I know! It's that rare beast, a vegetarian recipe on Jenny Eatwell's Rhubarb & Ginger.
I do try to include the odd vegetarian recipe from time to time, it's just that the carnivore in me often gets the better of it and I wind up throwing in something meaty at the last minute. I'll try to do better, honest!
Well, this tart definitely qualifies as vegetarian - you could even use vegetarian parmesan cheese, if you so wanted. If you choose Jus-Rol puff pastry, you'll find it is Vegetarian Society approved and even suitable for vegans! So I think we can safely say that this is very definitely a recipe that is vegetarian friendly. Hurrah!
I can't remember where I saw the thing that gave me the inspiration for this tart, except I saw an article somewhere online about char grilling sliced aubergines - and the photograph accompanying it showed lines of aubergine slices laid down slightly overlapping each other and I thought "that looks like they're on a tart". Oooooh! That would be good! What could I put it with? And that was how it happened.
I came up with the cherry tomato idea before the pesto, in fact. I knew that cherry tomatoes - particularly the Aramatico type that are available at the moment - would be a lovely counterpoint to the relatively bland but smoky aubergine. What it needed, though, was something to provide a basic, underlying flavour that the vegetables could ride upon. Cream cheese seemed too rich, although I liked the cheese idea.
I didn't want anything too squishy, as the aubergine would be doing a good enough job there without any help. Equally, I didn't want anything too overpowering - like chilli. I gave some serious consideration to red onion marmalade, but rejected it on account of the sweetness. I began going through what I had in the fridge - and hit upon the pesto. That gave the herbiness that would provide good depth to the flavour, with a little bit of cheese influence too. It was strongly flavoured, but you wouldn't need to use too much so it wouldn't be too squishy and compromise the crispiness of the tart base. Perfect! I then hit upon the ruse of adding some grated parmesan to the tart while it was still hot from the oven - and the recipe was born.
It received a mixed reaction from the assembled throng, in that I loved it and consider it to be one of the best tarts I've come up with to date. Hubby liked it - but was disappointed that, to his taste buds, the pesto overpowered the aubergine. Son & heir hated it because he finds aubergine too much of a challenge and isn't keen on cooked tomatoes at the best of times. Hey ho!
I really enjoyed the contrast between the sweet acidity of the cherry tomatoes against the creamy blandness of the aubergine and had no difficulty picking the aubergine flavour out of the whole melange. I felt that the pesto gave everything a good base flavour that didn't interfere and the parmesan on top added that salty bite that brought the thing alive. The whole tart was just bursting with umami - that elusive flavour profile that can be so hard to find, but when you do, it's worthwhile hanging onto!
The textures were great, with the crisp lightness of the pastry, the soft aubergine and crunchy grated parmesan. I had a piece cold the following day for lunch and it was just as good, hence it is here on the blog for you to try. I suspect it will get mixed reactions, but you'll know what your family like - so bear that in mind when deciding whether to try it.
I'm not so sure that this one is either teenager or child friendly either, but as I say, you'll know your family's tastes better than I ever will.
I served our tart with a mixed salad including feta cheese and green olives, which made hubby happy and a potato salad made using Cornish crystal new potatoes. Well, I loved it - and I hope you do, too.
AUBERGINE & CHERRY TOMATO TART (serves 6)
Ingredients :
2 smallish aubergines (eggplant, to those of you from over the water!)
3 tbsp oil (I used a combination of sunflower and rapeseed)
1 x 320g roll of puff pastry
1 tsp of green pesto
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese.
Method :
1. Slice both aubergines into small slices (approx 5mm or thereabouts) across the round, rather than along the length. Keep the slices in piles so as to prevent oxidisation (discolouration, in other words) and brush the top slice of each pile with a little oil, which also prevents oxidisation.
2. Heat a griddle pan, or failing that a plain old frying pan or even a barbecue, until blisteringly hot and lay as many slices as will fit, oil side down, onto the pan. Lightly brush the top sides with a little oil, ready to be turned.
3. Once the underside is either charred or browned (depending on which pan you use), flip them over and repeat on the other side.
4. Remove to a large plate and lay each slice slightly overlapping the next, around the plate so that they have a chance to cool.
5. Repeat until all the aubergine slices have been used.
6. Place the empty pan in a safe place to cool down! You won't need it again.
7. Line your baking tray with a sheet of parchment paper, or non-stick tin foil, or just plain use a non-stick baking tray. Lay the sheet of puff pastry down flat upon it and, with a sharp knife, draw a line - not piercing through the pastry - around the rectangle to define where the crust will be.
8. Spread the inside of the rectangle with the pesto, making sure to spread it thinly or you won't taste the aubergine.
9. Place slices of aubergine in an attractive display onto the top of the pesto. I used three lines of slightly overlapping slices.
10. Sprinkle the cherry tomato halves over randomly, but making sure they are evenly distributed.
11. Season well with sea salt and black pepper, then place into a pre-heated oven at 180degC/350degF/gas 4 for around 25-30 minutes.
12. As soon as the pastry is golden and risen around the edges, remove the tart from the oven and sprinkle the parmesan over the top so as to allow it both the heat and the time to wilt a little prior to serving.
Serve warm, not hot, with a mixed salad.
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