Hmmm. Potatoes…Potato Mushroom Tarts

Well I’m back with the recipes! This time is a yummy and gorgeous potato mushroom tart. The crust is a great buttery one with emphasis on the “flaky.” The actual filling is delicious, too. It’s a variation of a duchesse potato recipe and a bed of mushrooms on the bottom. The great thing about this appetizer/hors d’oeuvres is that you can change up the flavoring to your taste. I added some green onion and diced, sauteed garlic but be creative with it.

Here’s a picture!

Here’s what you need:

To make the potato and mushroom filling, you will need:

• 2 small-medium red potatoes (both of mine together weighed 12.5 ounces)
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 1 tablespoon of milk
• 1 egg yolk
• 6 mushrooms
• enough water to fill a 1/4 of a saucepan

To make the crust, you’ll need;

• 1 stick of cold butter
• 3/4 cup of all purpose flour (plus some extra for the counters, the rolling pin and your hands 🙂
• 1/2 cup of cake flour
• 1/4  cup of cold water
• 1/2 tablespoon of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• olive oil for greasing the pan

A pastry blender will be helpful in make the crust and make sure all the ingredients for the crust are cold (including your materials- bowl, pastry blender, etc.)

When I made this recipe, I just filled a 12-cupcake pan with the recipe with pretty good sized tarts.

First start preparing the potatoes. Fill a saucepan 1/4 of the way with water. Turn the stove top onto to high and wait for the water to boil. Meanwhile, peel both potato skin and cut in about fourteen pieces.

Put them into the boiling water and cover. Boil for about 10 minutes.

Take out the cold butter (make sure all your ingredients for the crust are chilled). Cut the butter into tiny cubes and put into a chilled bowl. Add both flours (cake and all purpose), salt, and sugar.

Use a chilled pastry blender (see emphasis on the chilled 🙂 to cut the butter into the flour. Make sure you still see pea-sized butter pieces in the dough. The butter in the crust is what makes it extra flaky. The picture below is about 1/4 through the cutting in process.

Once the butter is mixed into the flour (remember pea-sized pieces), add the 1/4 cup of water and gather into and ball. Definitely add more water if needed. Once you have that done, it’s time to put it in the fridge!

Well we finished one half of the recipe, so now for the second half. Remember you still have potatoes boiling away on your stove top 🙂

After the potatoes are soft enough (a knife should enter easily), quickly drain and put in a bowl. Take a knife and chop the potatoes up into small pieces. Here’s a picture so you can see what it’s supposed to look like. Hmm…it’s starting to smell potato-y in here 🙂

Add in the milk, egg, and butter. Use a rubber spatula to combine and smooth. The consistency right now should be like mashed potatoes.

This is also the time to add in any flavorings you want to use. There are so many options so experiment with it! but here are some to get you started:

• Salt and Pepper- You can’t go wrong with the typical S and P. Give them a few shakes and fold the potatoes to combine.
• Green Onion and sauteed garlic- Almost kind of an Asian twist to it. Add some soy sauce and you’re all set to go!
• Olive oil and garlic powder- Add a little Italian flair to it. Some olive oil would give the potatoes a different texture so experiment and see what you like.
• Rosemary or oregano- Spices? Oh yes 🙂
• Cheese- Throw in some pepperoni to make it a pizza potato tart.
• Chili- Now there’s a new one. You can make your own but if you’re in a hurry use some straight out of the can.

Wow that’s a pretty good list there but there are tons more. What are some of your favorite flavors?

Now to make this a bit more nutritious, I decided to add in some yummy mushrooms. Don’t like mushrooms? Well try some other veggie or none at all. Try it and find out 🙂

I chopped the mushrooms into tiny pieces and put it in a bowl to use a bit later because now…

It’s back to preparing the crust. Take the crust out of the refrigerator and start rolling it out. Roll the dough until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Don’t make it too thick though because this dough tends to be puffy as a result of all the delicious, flaky layers 🙂

Use a biscuit cutter or what I used, a wide glass. The glass I used was approximately 3 1/2 inches wide so it made pretty good sized circles. After making the circles, place them into a greased (with olive oil) cupcake pan. Smooth out the dough and poke each of the crusts twice with a fork. Bake just the crust at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10 minutes.

Once the crusts are done baking , wait 5 minutes for them to cool. Meanwhile, fill a decorating bag with the potato mixture so you can make some pretty designs on your tarts. 🙂

When the crusts are cooled a bit, spoon some the mushrooms onto the bottom of each crust. Then pipe the potatoes into the tarts. Mhmm yum. Time to stick it in the oven again!

Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 15minutes until the potato is stiff. You’re done! Aren’t you proud of yourself? 🙂

This recipe makes 12 delicious tarts. Serve these at parties or serve them as an appetizer at a family dinner.

Have fun with it and happy baking!

(Instructables link)