Black Garlic is one of those amazing complex ingredients that comes from fermenting an already flavorful herb, and creating something new. It really plays well with a variety of things, chicken, shrimp, steak, sautéed veggies, and noodles just to name a few! So why not try and make a baked goody with it? That was the question when I looked at my last few bulbs, and Black Garlic Mushroom Tarts was the answer.
Okay so why tarts? I really like small fingers foods like Tapas! Why mushrooms? They are a versatile food item, and their porosity allows them to soak and blends flavors together better than some other ingredients. Given all that, it seemed like the perfect combination.
A note on the mushrooms before we dive into the recipe and process. You can use whatever mushroom you want. You want something a little more authentic to the origination of Black Garlic, which is East Asian, use an Asian mushroom like Shirataki or Wood Ear mushrooms. You will just have to cube them or slice them in fourths to get them to fit your muffin tins. I honestly picked the white button mushroom, because when I started to test this recipe I found them with clearance stickers, and they are readily available in all supermarkets.
When you are cooking your mushrooms in the skillet, you aren’t cooking them all the way. You will finish cooking them in the oven, you just want to start softening them. The moisture that is left in them when put them in the oven will play into the tart shells and soften the black garlic while it cooks.
Be careful when you slice the black garlic, it is sticky and will resist cutting and stick your knife with ease, even to my chefs knife with the divots.
These Black Garlic Mushroom Tarts are perfect party finger food or an appetizer for upcoming holiday gatherings like Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Enjoy!
Black Garlic Mushroom Tarts
Equipment
- Standard Muffin Tin
- 12 inch Skillet
Ingredients
- Savory Pie Dough I use a Cream Cheese pie dough
- 12 oz. sliced White Button mushrooms 1/4 inch thick slices, See Note
- 1 medium shallot about 1 cup, sliced thin
- 2 black garlic bulbs sliced thin
- 1/2 tbsp butter
- 1 oz goat cheese crumbled
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Slice shallot, mushrooms, and black garlic, set aside.
- In a large skillet over medium heat melt butter. Once melted sauté shallots till they begin to soften, 2-3 minutes.
- Add mushrooms to softened shallots and cook, stirring frequently, till mushrooms have began to release their moisture but are still firm. It’s okay to have moisture still in the pan. Remove from pan and set aside.
- Roll out pie dough to approximately 1/4 inch thick. Cut using a 3 1/2 inch biscuit cookie cutter.
- Press dough circles into well oiled cupcake pan so they come up the sides with a hollow impression in the middle.
- Evenly divide cooked mushroom shallot mixture between tart shells. Top with sliced black garlic and crumbled goat cheese.
- Bake for 18 minutes. Your tarts will be golden around the edges and your mushrooms will be soft without being mushy.