Mushroom Puff Pastry Wheel
Ingredients
2-3 T butter
2 C finely chopped mushrooms - any combination
1 large shallot - finely chopped)
dried thyme, salt, pepper*
gruyere - grated
truffle seasoning**
2 puff pastry sheets***
Directions
1. Melt butter in saute pan. Add shallot and cook until translucent. Add mushrooms and saute for a long time, stirring occasionally until you see a lot of nice browned bits. Season to taste with thyme, salt and pepper.
2. Once cooled, add grated gruyere and truffle seasoning to taste.
3. Roll out both pastry sheets (I like to do this on a silicone mat) large enough so you can cut out a 12 inch circle from each. Leave one circle on silicone mat. Spread mushroom mixture evenly almost to edges. Place second circle over top, press all over gently, and moosh down the edges all the way around.
4. Set a 2 inch round cookie cutter, glass, whatever in the middle of the circle and make a gentle impression. From the outside of the small circle to the edge of the large circle, make four even cuts, dividing the cicle into 4 quadrants. Next, make 4 more cuts halving each quadrant. You now have 8 sections. Now, make 8 more cuts dividing into 16 sections, only don't cut all the way to the litle circle - leave about a centimeter. Grab 2 sections with a shorter cut in the middle and twist each outward (away from each other) for two full rotations. Pinch/moosh the bottom of the sections togeter to form a "leg" of the wheel. Do this 7 more times to form 8 legs. There is a really great video and visual aid for this technique avilable at:
womanscribbles.net It's for a sweet bread, but the technique is the same.
5. Place the mat on a baking sheet and chill in the fridge, covered, until you're ready to bake. Bake at 400 (convection) for about 15 minutes. Using a cake slider or something similar, transfer to wire rack for a few minutes to cool. Then tranfser again to a serving platter. The "legs" are meant to be pulled in half and then ripped from the center, and eaten with you fingers!
Notes
* I suspect a little nutmeg would be good as well
** The truffle seasoning I use is Sabatino's Truffle Zest. The link is too long to be accepted by this web design software, but you can look it up on Amazon.
*** Everything I've read suggests that Pepperidge Farms all-butter frozen puff pastry is the best. That's the only one I've tried so far and I thought it was great. Make sure to defrost thoroughly, otherwise it will break when you unfold it - although it's easy enough to moosh back together.
Credits: Jennifer Jacobs, Sanna from Woman Scribbles
Tags: appetizer
Original Post Date: 5/3/21