According to a certain theory of psychology there are five languages of love: words of affirmation, acts of service, receiving gifts, quality time and physical touch.
Mine, if you haven’t guessed it by now, is acts of service. I come from a family of doers. We express love by doing things for one another, and that extends itself to the way we show love to our partners , friends and people we care about. To me love is a VERB, don’t tell me you love me, do the dishes. So when the people I love/care about ask me for something, I am more than happy to make it/do it/bring it… Being Jewish, the opportunity to express my love presents itself every Friday night. When my family, or friends come over for Shabbat dinner (Friday night dinner), they will ask me to bake or cook a particular dish
So when my son asked me to make him something with feta and mushrooms, I was more than delighted to oblige.
This mushroom and feta cheese is truly delightful. If you love lots of feta, you’ll be happy to know that every bite of this dish packs a punch. I prefer a milder taste so, if I’m making it for myself, I will use 80g of feta filling, but for my boys I use 120g. There’s no such thing as too much feta in their book.
This tart is so versatile, you can have it for brunch, lunch or as a side for dinner. You can add just about anything to it: caramelised onions, nuts, olives, figs, tomatoes … the list is endless. But the star of this tart is definitely the mushrooms, coated in garlic, olive oil and parsley. To me, that’s as good as it gets when it comes to taste. What can I say … this is an easy recipe but packed with flavour.
Mushroom and goat fetta tart
Pastry Ingredients
3 frozen puff pastry sheets (thawed)
1 egg, beaten for brushing
Fetta mixture Ingredients
80g – 120g spreadable goat feta (depending on how strong/mild you like the feta taste)
1-2 tablespoons Greek yoghurt. Just use enough to give it a smooth consistency that’s easy to spread.
⅓ of a cup of finely chopped fresh basil leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
Mushroom mixture ingredients
11 medium size brown mushrooms
2 large brown mushrooms
6 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic crushed
¼ cup finely chopped continental parsley
6 cherry tomatoes cut in half
A handful of grated parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper (be generous)
Method
Pre heat the oven to 200c
In a small bowl, mix together the yoghurt, feta, salt, pepper and chopped basil and set aside.
Line a rectangular flat baking tray with baking paper, put a little oil on the tray before placing the baking paper, so it doesn’t slide in the tray when working with the pastry.
Place the two pieces of pastry on top of baking paper (it’s fine that they overlap). Pierce the pastry with a fork all over and baste with egg wash. Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until pastry is golden and cooked through.
Once the pastry is cooked through, remove from the oven and allow it to cool down.
While the pastry is cooling down, place the the oil, garlic, chopped parsley, salt and pepper in a large bowl and combine well. Throw in the tomatoes and mushrooms, coat with oil and mixture thoroughly.
Cut the remaining thawed pastry into six equal strips and place them along the edges of the cooked pastry to create a border.
Spread the prepared feta mixture on top of the pastry, remaining within the border.
Arrange the mushrooms and tomatoes on top of the feta filling, sprinkle the parmesan cheese and cook in the oven until the borders are golden and cooked through: about 20-25 minutes. Thats how long it took in my oven.