Balsamic Mushroom Onion Tarts Food

MUSHROOM AND CARAMELIZED ONION TART

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Place the flour, butter and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times to break up butter into little pieces... mixture should resemble coarse corn meal. With the machine running, add the water a tablespoon at a time until the dough holds together when squeezed. Gather the dough together and form into a rectangle. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one half an hour.
• In the mean time, heat the butter and olive oil in a large sauté pan. Add the mushrooms, stir to coat, spread out in the pan and allow to cook, undisturbed for a couple of minutes. Stir once and redistribute, continue cooking in this same manor until mushrooms are golden brown. Remove from pan and set aside.
• Add onions to the same sauté pan; add additional olive oil is necessary. Sauté until caramelized well, season with thyme, salt and pepper.
• Divide pastry in half. Roll each piece of pastry into long strips, about 4 inches by 8 inches. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and crimp the edge of the dough to create a rim. Cover the tart with parchment and fill with beans. Bake 15 minutes, remove the parchment and beans and bake another 5 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.
• Reduce the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Spread half of the cheese and half of the onions and half of the mushrooms on each tart. Bake for 15 minutes. Allow to cool 5 minutes.
• To serve, cut each tart in half length wise and then into 6 equal pieces. Arrange on a serving plate.

BALSAMIC ONION TARTLETS

Steps:

• Under medium to low heat, place olive oil and onions in a skillet and cook for 3 or 4 minutes so that onions begin to soften but not brown.
• Add 1/3 cup of chicken broth to the onions and continue to cook until the liquid evaporates. This should take about 8 to 10 minutes.
• Add thyme and another 1/3 cup of broth, and cook until the liquid evaporates.
• Add the balsamic vinegar and the remaining broth, cooking until liquid evaporates. The final simmer takes about 12-15 minutes.
• The results will be soft and tender onions with a tart sauce that is slightly syrupy but not at all loose.
• To fill the Phyllo cups you can either use a pastry bag with a star tip or a teaspoon. If you are using cream cheese, allow it to soften a bit and mix with a tablesoon of milk.) Place a small amount of the yogurt or cream cheese in the shell filling about 1/3 to 1/2 way to the top. Top each with a spoonful of the onions.
• Bake the tartlets in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 8 to 10 minutes.
• To garnish, you can pipe little rosettes of yogurt or cream cheese on top and sprinkle with a few fresh thyme leaves.

APPETIZER ONION-MUSHROOM TARTS

Steps:

• PASTRY: Beat butter(softened) & cream cheese(softened) until smooth. Work in flour.
• Roll into long, thin roll. Mark off, then cut into 24 pieces.
• Press into tiny tart pans to form shells.
• FILLING: Melt butter in frying pan. Add onions(chopped) & mushrooms(chopped). Saute until onion is clear & soft.
• Stir in flour, salt, pepper, & thyme. Mix in sour cream. Stir until thickened. Cool quite well. Divide among tart shells.
• Bake in 350 degree oven for about 20 mn. Yields 24 tarts.

BALSAMIC ONION, MUSHROOM & BLUE CHEESE TARTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Put a pan over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter.
• Once the butter starts to froth, put the thinly sliced red onions in and turn the heat down to low.
• Cook, stirring often, until the onions have become translucent. This will take about 10 minutes but keep an eye on them.
• Add the sugar and the balsamic vinegar to the onions and cook on low, stirring often for about 10 minutes until the onion mixture is sticky and the liquid thickened up.
• Set the onions aside to cool.
• Melt the remaining butter in another pan and cook the mushrooms for a few minutes until they have just started to change color.
• Set the mushrooms aside to cool.
• Whilst the onions and mushrooms are cooling, layout your pie dough. You want the dough to be about as thick as a pinkie. If your pre-rolled dough is thicker roll it out to the desired thickness.
• Using a round cookie cutter or a glass, cut out 12 rounds of the dough.
• Press each round of dough into a hole of a 12 yield muffin tin. If your pan usually sticks, spray each hole with cooking spray before hand.
• Next, put the egg and sour cream into a bowl with the salt and pepper and beat together.
• Stir through the dried parsley and crumbled blue cheese. Set aside.
• Spoon a bit of the balsamic onions into the base of each tart.
• Top the onions with the mushrooms, trying to cover as much of the surface as possible.
• Spoon the blue cheese mixture over the top of each tart.
• Put tarts in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes until the pastry has gone golden and the cheese mixture has set.
• Take out of the oven and allow to cool before serving so the cheese mixture can firm up a little bit.