Vegetable en Croute

The December 2009 Daring Cooks Challenge was hosted by Simone of Junglefrog Cooking. Simone chose Salmon en Croute (or alternative recipes for Beef Wellington or Vegetable en Croute) from Good Food Online.

I made one with stir fried button mushrooms, fresh herbs, and a jalapeno jack cheese-cream cheese blend! Here you go.


I found this quite similar to the Savoury Vegetable Puffs that I made last December. A firm favourite with diners in many an Indian cafe, I have also found the latter to be more spicy and will go well with a cup of sweet tea. The Vegetable en Croute on the other hand is defiantly main course and would go well with a green salad or a simple soup like my Watercress & Potato Soup.

Vegetable en Croute: The Recipe

Preparation time: Total prep time incl. cooking for the mushrooms is 50 minutes
Shortcrust pastry : 50 minutes

Ingredients:
5.2 oz mascarpone or cream cheese
0.6 cup watercress, rocket (arugula) and spinach
17.6 ounces shortcrust pastry
3 cups button mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp grated jalapeno jack cheese

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 200°C/390 F. Put the cream cheese in a food processor with the watercress, spinach and rocket and whizz the lot until you have a creamy green puree. Season well.
2. Cut the pastry in any shape desired, 2 per patty, so you can wrap the vegetable and sauce in it completely (approx. 2-3 mm thick) and lay it on a buttered or oiled baking sheet (it will hang over the edges). Put the mushrooms in the middle. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the watercress mixture onto it. Sprinkle half the hard cheese. Place the second piece of cut pastry on top - press and seal. Trim off any excess as you need to. Using a fork, prick the pastry all over to allow steam to escape and make some decorations with the off-cuts to disguise the join if you like.
   
3. Bake for 30 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and browned. Serve with a fresh green salad. I made 2 individual sized patties.
   

Shortcrust Pastry
Making your own shortcrust pastry as it is very simple to do! Just make sure to not add too much water as that is the key to having a successful shortcrust pastry. Watch this video to check the correct consistency of the dough Making shortcrust pastry

Ingredients:
3.2 cups of plain all purpose flour
7 ounce cold butter
pinch of salt

Method:

1. Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the butter and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. If you have a food processor you can use that as shown in the above video.
2. Stir in the salt, then add 2-3 tbsp of water and mix to a firm dough. Knead the dough briefly and gently on a floured surface. Wrap in cling film and chill while preparing the filling.
3. For best results make sure the butter is very cold.
   

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