Fennel, Mushroom & Goats Cheese Tart

Quick and easy tart the whole family will enjoy!

The combination of all-butter puff pastry, fennel, mushroom, goats cheese and pink peppercorns is a winner!

The addition of a good all-butter pastry in the freezer is really an indispensable tool to a quick lunch or snack. My girls, who can be fussy on days about certain vegetables, are quite happy to have any veg on a tart!

The addition of pink peppercorns adds such an incredible flavour and worth while to look out for. They are fruity and soft rather than pungent.

Serve with a small salad on the side and you can have lunch ready in 30 minutes.

Getting Ahead: I think the tart is best served straight from the oven but leftovers are delicious and a slice can gently be reheated in the oven (never microwave). Dress the salad with oil or lemon juice just before serving.

Seasonal Swaps: this is an adaptable tart. You can use any root veg, as long as you cut it into thin slithers (it only has 20min to soften in the oven). See here for carrot tart

You can use any cheese here baring in mind that some cheeses melt better than others. Gruyere and fontina would be amazing. You can use creme fraiche instead of yogurt (which needs to be thick). If you want to go dairy free you can use pesto instead of cheese. You can use parsley, rosemary or dill instead of tarragon.

Serve with a small side salad for the perfect lunch.

A baking tray and baking paper

• small fennel bulb, very finely sliced, 1/2 cup fronds (dainty leafy things) reserved for garnish
• 150g mixed mushrooms, finely sliced, I used a combination of shiitake & chestnut
• 2 tablespoons tarragon, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons, double thick greek yogurt
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 100g goats cheese, cut into rounds
• 1 teaspoon pink peppercorns
• 250g fridge cold, ready-rolled puff pastry sheets (see kitchen note)

Side Salad:

• 3 handfuls herbed salad
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 lemon juice
• pinch of salt & black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 180c and line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. In a bowl mix the mushrooms, fennel, olive oil and HALF the tarragon together, set aside.
3. Mix the garlic with the yogurt well, set aside.
4. Score (cut with a sharp knife) a thin 2cm-wide border around the edge making sure not to cut all the way through. When baked the line will ‘frame’ your filling. Remember to add anything in the inside of the line, keeping the border ‘clean’.
5. Spread the yogurt over the pastry, leaving the border free.
6. Top with the mushroom and fennel mixture.
7. Add the goats cheese and sprinkle the remainder of the chopped tarragon.
8. Bake for 25 minutes until puffed and golden.
9. Just before the tart is finished make the salad by dressing the leaves with the olive oil, lemon juice and salt and toss with your hands. Have a taste and adjust the seasoning.
10. Once the tart is golden, remove from the oven and sprinkle the pink peppercorns, crushing them with your fingers as you sprinkle and garnish with the fennel fronds. Serve alongside the salad. Enjoy

Recently, the only good puff-pastry I can find is a small square (250g) but luckily there are two in one box. Normally a sheet of ready rolled puff-pastry is 320g, if you are working on 320g, you might need to use a bit more mushrooms and goats cheese but the rest of the ingredients will stay the same.