Mushroom and artichoke 'flamiche'

You know those days where you go and go and go and when you slow down you feel all shaky and worried and don't know why you've stopped moving at light speed? I'm one of those people who finds it really hard to walk slow when I'm by myself. I feel like I need to get out, do my thing, and move on or come home. As fast as possible. So I rush around the city or wherever and inadvertently stress

myself out without any reason to. 

That's what I did the other day. 

I had been to uni, rushed to the supermarket, took the train to the city - where I tried some photography stores for some basic studio lighting ($250 for a stand, umbrella and connector? No thank you...), rushed back home and then tried to cook three things at once. Of course I was going to hit a wall.

One of the things I was cooking was this spinach and artichoke tart. The recipe I got it from called it a 'flamiche,' but according to wikipedia, a flamiche is a "specialty of Picardy in the north of France. It is a sort of pie stuffed with cooked leek. The pastry is made of a brioche type dough. It resembles a quiche." I guess technically this is a sort of pie stuffed with cooked leek, but its made of a flaky pastry rather than a brioche and its not as egg-y as a quiche. Whatever it is, if you like mushrooms, you'll probably like this. 


And we all did like it, even if it did almost make me crack like a mad woman during baking. You see, I'm the kind of person who hates to throw out extra batter or filling when I'm cooking. So if I've stuffed a pie to bursting point, but theres still just that teenie tiny littlest bit of filling left over, I feel like I've got to squeeze it in too. Of course this results in overflow and the appearance of the whole pie is ruined. Then I get angry at myself for ruining the pretty pastry, but I'm just too stubborn to learn from the experience. Can you guess what happened here? I made too much filling and even when it looked like the mushroom-custard (custard? what do you call the egg/cream part of a quiche?) saturation point had been reached, I kept pouring. Then, after being in the oven for about 10 minutes, I noticed that some of the filling had snuck its way out onto the crust, and might start preventing it from rising! 


When you've just spent 2 hours making, resting, rolling and shaping a pastry base, anything that will stop it from reaching its potential can drive a person to insanity. I became angry at the pastry - how dare it get ruined at the final stage of its preparation!? No matter that it was my own fault for piling too much into it. 


Anyway, after sulking about my failed tart for another 20 minutes, I went to check on it again, and to my utter amazement and joy, the crust had managed to puff up even under the weight of a little too much filling! The world was no longer a cruel place, but a forgiving one! 


Well perhaps not the whole world, but this pastry recipe is, at least. And we all know that a forgiving pastry recipe can be a godsend. 

The photo is horrible, but I was too hungry to care, so for a nicer picture of what it should look like, please have a look at the website it came from. 

Puff pastry

From Better Homes and Gardens 

300 g (10.5 oz) butter, cubed 

2 cups all-purpose flour

250 g (8.8 oz) cream cheese, cubed

1. In a food processor, pulse the flour and butter until crumbly, around 10-15 seconds. 
2. Add the cream cheese and pulse until the dough just starts to stick to the walls, but has not yet formed a dough.
3. Pour out onto a large, clean surface and gather into a clump. Using the heel of your hand, push the dough away from you, so that streaks of cream cheese can be seen. These ensure that your pastry will be flaky. 
4. Push out all the dough until it starts to stick to each other and you can form a ball. 
5. Form a large disk and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.  

Mushroom and artichoke 'flamiche'

Adapted from The Telegraph

25 g (1oz) butter
2 tbsp olive oil
100g (3½oz) mixed mushrooms, preferably wild, torn or sliced (I didn't measure mine, but I used a LOT, around 1 1/4 litres before cooking)
1 leek, washed and sliced
150g (5½oz) marinated artichoke hearts, sliced
100g (3½oz) gruyère, coarsely grated (I used colby cheese, because I couldn't find gruyere)

4 Tbs heavy cream or sour cream

1 large egg, lightly beaten, plus 1 yolk
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp finely chopped sage plus 6 whole leaves (I only had dried sage, so I used 1 tsp

1. Roll out the pastry until it is about 0.5cm (¼in) thick. Use a little flour if the rolling-pin sticks. Cut out a 30cm (12in) circle. Transfer the pastry to a paper-lined baking sheet, and use a knife to draw a 2.5 cm (1 inch) border. Be careful not to cut all the way through the pastry, and prick the inside circle all over with a fork. Chill in the fridge while you get on with the filling. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6.
2. Melt half the butter and half the olive oil in a heavy-based saucepan over a high heat. Add the mushrooms and fry briskly, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes until golden with no liquid remaining. Tip out into a large bowl.
3. Reduce the heat. Melt the remaining butter in the pan and add the leeks and some salt. Cover the pan with a tightly fitting lid and leave to sweat for 10 to 15 minutes, until soft but not coloured. Add to the mushrooms, with the artichokes and three quarters of the cheese. Season lightly.
4. Beat the cream/sour cream, beaten egg, nutmeg and chopped sage, and pour over the leek mixture. Turn lightly to mix then spread over the pastry, leaving the border clear. Scatter with the remaining gruyère. Brush the border sparingly with the egg yolk. Coat the sage leaves with the remaining oil and press gently on top.
5. Bake for 35 minutes, until golden brown and crisp.

These mushrooms have nothing to do with this post, but I took this picture while in Italy over the summer, and I thought this produce was so beautiful that we ended up eating in the restaurant they were outside of for lunch. 

Has anyone else had any sure-thing cooking disasters that actually ended up working out great? I'd love to hear from you!

Ps I don't know why there are random gaps between my paragraphs - sorry about how weird it makes the page/recipe look!