Mushroom Tartlets sans Hollandaise Sauce--GC Menu #4

I'll admit I was getting a little doubtful about the cookbook this group is using (The Illustrated Kitchen Bible). Everything I'd made so far had seemed a little bland. Last week's empanadas, though good in theory, had a dough that was a killer to work with, so I was especially doubtful about doing another dough this week. But, at least for the present, TIKB has redeemed itself in my book. These tartlets were delicious, even without the Hollandaise sauce topping, and the crust was tender, flaky, and easy to work with.

The dough was flour, butter, egg yolk, and (ice) water. I also added a bit of salt. After being refrigerated for a half-hour, it rolled out easily. It's actually less of a pain to work with than making a full-size pie because it's simple to pick up the tiny piece of dough whereas the big piece of dough sticks to the counter, falls apart, and causes all manner of problems. I didn't swear once while working with this dough.
I spent most of the day making the Bostini for my cake blog. (It's next week's cake, but I'm going to be gone over the weekend so I had to make it ahead of time.) The Bostini is also my excuse for not making the other thing on the GC menu--vanilla custards. I'd just made a big pot of very rich, very delicious creme patisserie, and making vanilla custards seemed like taking coals to Newcastle. The Bostini is also why I didn't make the Hollandaise. I ran out of eggs, and I ran out of butter with the Bostini. (Two sticks of butter in the chocolate glaze!!!) But most of all, I ran out of steam. We invited people over mid-afternoon to sample the Bostinis, and by the time they left, it was late. But I was determined to make the mushroom tartlets.

The filling is easy. Dried porcini mushrooms, fresh mushrooms and onions, and cream cheese. The dried mushrooms are reconstituted; the fresh mushrooms and onions and sauteed in butter; and the cream cheese is quickly processed with this mixture; and then spooned into the prebaked tartlet shells. I'll admit that the tarts are not as attractive with the brown filling as they would be with a puffy Hollandaise topping--some grated Parmesan would probably have a similar effect and would be easier, as well as less caloric. Still, if you don't compare them to what might have been, they don't look bad. And they taste really good.

Taste-O-Meter Ratings:
Jim: 8.5. This is the first recipe I've really liked.
Marie. 9. Ditto.