Chestnut mushroom pithivier with a dressed green salad

Serves - 4

You’ll need

• 2 sheets all-butter puff pastry
• 500g chestnut mushrooms, finely chopped
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 25g butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp thyme leaves
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 100g crème fraîche
• 50g Parmesan or vegetarian hard cheese, finely grated
• 1 egg, beaten
• Sea salt
• Black pepper

For the dressed green salad
• 1 little gem lettuce, or a few handfuls of mixed leaves
• 1 small shallot, very finely sliced
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar or lemon juice
• Sea salt
• Black pepper

Method

1. Start the mushroom filling

Heat the butter and olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion with a pinch of salt and cook for 5–6 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and thyme and cook for another minute, just until fragrant and heading in the right direction.

2. Cook the mushrooms properly

Add the chopped chestnut mushrooms and cook for 10–12 minutes, stirring now and then, until they have given up their moisture and the pan looks relatively dry. This bit matters. You want a filling with real savoury depth, not one that leaks into the pastry and leaves you with a soggy middle.

3. Finish the filling

Take the pan off the heat and stir in the Dijon mustard, crème fraîche and Parmesan. Season well with black pepper and a little more salt if needed, then leave the mixture to cool. It should feel rich and properly mushroomy, but not wet.

4. Build the pithivier

Heat the oven to 200°C fan and line a baking tray. Cut one sheet of pastry into a circle roughly 24cm across and place it on the tray. Spoon the cooled mushroom filling into the middle, leaving a 2cm border all the way round.

Cut the second sheet into a slightly larger circle, around 26cm across, and lay it over the filling. Press the edges together firmly to seal, then crimp with a fork or your fingers. Brush all over with the beaten egg.

5. Make it look the part

Using the back of a small knife, lightly score curved lines over the top from the centre outwards, taking care not to cut all the way through the pastry. Cut a tiny steam hole in the middle. This is not just for looks, though it does help on that front.

6. Bake until golden

Bake for 30–35 minutes until the pastry is puffed and deeply golden. You want it bronzed and crisp, with the filling properly hot inside, not pale and underconfident.

7. Make the salad

While the pithivier bakes, whisk together the extra virgin olive oil, white wine vinegar or lemon juice, a pinch of salt and a good grind of black pepper. Add the shallot and leave it for a few minutes so it softens slightly and loses any unnecessary harshness.

8. Serve

Leave the pithivier to sit for 5 minutes before slicing. Toss the leaves in the dressing just before serving, then plate up the warm pithivier with the dressed green salad alongside. It should feel buttery, rich and nicely balanced by something sharp and fresh on the side.

A couple of helpful notes
- Let the filling cool before it goes into the pastry or the butter in the pastry will start softening too soon, which is rarely helpful.
- If you want a little more depth, a few soaked dried porcini chopped into the filling would work very nicely.
- This is very good warm, but also holds up well at room temperature, which makes it useful for lunch the next day too.