mushroom and tarragon en croute

This wonderful recipe has been slightly adapted from Rose Elliot’s book “Fast, Fresh and Fabulous”, it encompasses a terrine of mushrooms and nuts wrapped in puff pastry.

I love this dish for very special occasions, because it feels indulgent without leaving you feeling full and heavy afterwards. It’s delicious cold the next day too. I usually have it with a homemade tomato sauce, however, it would also go well with cranberry sauce or gravy.

You could just as easily use the filling to make vegetarian style sausage rolls, they would freeze very well either raw or partly cooked.

If you’re gluten-free, you could try one of the specialist pastries on the market, or alternatively just cook it in a loaf tin, making sure you line it with baking paper and cover it with foil to prevent it from drying out.

The following recipe serves 8. I like to split the mixture and make two, one for the oven and one for the freezer.

Ingredients
2 large onions, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
250g (9oz) chestnut mushrooms, sliced roughly
225g (8oz) cashews, powdered in a food processor
225g (8oz) ground almonds
225g (8oz) soft breadcrumbs (I make my own by putting gluten-free bread in a food processor)
2 tablespoons tamari (wheat free soy sauce)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons dried tarragon (it’s gorgeous but kids may not like this flavour)
1 teaspoon of yeast extract (marmite, vegemite etc. or leave out and add a teaspoon more of tamari)
500g puff pastry
Beaten egg or milk, for brushing
Sesame seeds

Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6.

In a large saucepan or frying pan, sauté the onions in the olive oil for 7 minutes, until tender, then add the garlic and mushrooms and cook for a further 5 minutes, or until the mushrooms are tender. Then tip the mixture into a food processor and blend to a puree.

Put the ground cashew nuts and almonds in a bowl with the breadcrumbs, the mushroom puree, tamari, lemon juice, tarragon and yeast extract and mix well. It will be quite stiff. Season well with salt and pepper.

Roll the puff pastry out on a lightly floured board to make a square of about 38cm (15 inches) in size. Transfer the pastry to the baking sheet and heap the mushroom mixture in the centre, forming it into a loaf shape.

Make diagonal cuts in the pastry about 1cm (1/2 inch) apart on each side of the mushroom mixture, then fold these up over the mushroom pate to make a kind of plait effect. Tuck in the ends neatly, trim off any extra bits and brush with a beaten egg before sprinkling with sesame seeds.

Bake for 40 minutes, or until the pastry is puffed and golden brown.