Blue Cheese and Mushroom Tart

The combination of mushrooms and blue cheese is a classically delicious one and works perfectly in a tart.

I love the rich, meaty portabello mushrooms in this, they stand up well to the blue cheese.  For that I like a creamy blue such as Stilton or Saint Agur, if you like a stronger cheese you can use one with a bit more poke such as Gorgonzola or Roquefort. 
I think this is just perfect served warm or at room temperature with a simple leafy salad.

Ingredients

200g Plain Flour

100g Butter

Pinch of Salt

4-6 tablespoons Milk

4 Large Portabello Mushrooms, roughly chopped (Approx. 250g)

Butter

Splash of White Wine

Salt and Black Pepper

75-100g Blue Cheese

4-5 Sage Leaves, finely chopped or a pinch of dried Sage (optional)

100ml Double or Whipping Cream

250ml Milk

2 Large Eggs plus 1 Egg yolk

• Generously and thoroughly butter a 25cm loose-bottomed flan tin and preheat your oven to 200C (fan).
• To make the pastry, put the flour into a bowl and add the butter and a good pinch of salt.  I often use spreadable because I always have that in the fridge and it makes good pastry.  I have found that the most effective method using spreadable butter is to use a table knife to cut through the butter in the flour repeatedly until it is in very small pieces, you don't have to rub it in.  If you are using hard butter, grate it into the flour and cut through lightly with a knife.  Stirring with the knife then add the milk spoon by spoon until it comes together easily into a ball of dough.
• Sprinkle your work surface with flour, put the ball of dough onto it then sprinkle lightly with flour and your rolling pin too.  Roll the pastry out (moving it around after each roll to prevent sticking) until it is about 4-5mm thick and big enough to fit in your tin with overlap.  Roll the pastry onto your rolling pin then transfer onto the buttered tin.  Gradually work around the tin pushing the pastry into the edges carefully to avoid tearing it (patch any holes up with spare pastry), leave a bit of pastry overhanging the edges.
• Put foil or baking paper into the pastry case and weigh it down with baking beans or any dried pulses (I use lentils).  Put it in the preheated oven to blind bake for 10 minutes, then remove the baking beans and foil/paper and put it back in the oven for another 5 minutes.  Take it out of the oven, trim off any overhanging pastry to neaten it up and set aside, turn the oven down to 175C.
• To cook the mushrooms, put a generous knob of butter into a large frying pan to melt.  When melted and bubbling turn the heat up to high then tip in the chopped mushrooms, a splash of white wine (not essential but does add another little dimension) and a good seasoning of salt and black pepper.  Cook the mushrooms, stirring and tossing until all the liquid has evaporated and the mushrooms are dark, glossy and buttery.
• When the mushrooms have cooled slightly tip them into the tart case and distribute evenly.  Crumble the blue cheese in chunky pieces around the mushrooms then sprinkle over the sage, if using.
• In a measuring jug measure the cream and the milk then beat the eggs and the egg yolk into it.  Season with salt and black pepper then slowly pour this mixture into the tart case (to make this easier you can put the tart tin in the oven with the shelf pulled out to pour it in), transfer to the oven and bake for about 25 minutes until set and golden brown on the top.
• Leave to cool for 10-15 minutes then carefully transfer from the tin onto a plate (you can just remove the ring from the outside, leaving the tart on the bottom of the tin).