This recipe was what I made for the 2023 LoveWorks dinner in Oklahoma City(thank you, Gabriel Lewis for the invite to cook once again!). Last year, I was lucky enough to get the dessert course, but this year, I wanted to be a little bolder, and venture back into savory. Truthfully, after Masterchef: Back to Win, I’ve been extremely traumatized to do savory food in general. After getting criticized for over-seasoning then getting sent home for under seasoning, I honestly got so thrown off by all of that to the point where I just felt uncomfortable cooking savory food for a fine dining-type of setting. However, with both Shari(from season 10) and Dara(our beloved and talented Back to Win winner!!!) on our roster, I wanted to let one of them take dessert this year. It only felt fair, since they are both really talented pastry people too, and it felt wrong to hog the dessert course two years in a row! Now that being said, I wanted to do something pastry-related, even though it was still going to be a savory dish. I had a few ideas, such as an XO sauce beignet and pumpkin toast, which were in the event we had to cater for 300 people again(which is what we had to do in 2022), but fortunately, it was only for 100 people, so that meant I could do something a little more complex and generous in portion size. And since the dinner is in November, which is fall, that was how I landed on the idea to do a mushroom tart! When I think of fall, mushrooms are close to the top of my list in terms of ingredients I gravitate towards. They are abundant during this time of year, and I love cooking with them. To the point where they are my savory crutch. One of my favorite mushroom dishes I ever had was this porcini-buckwheat tart at Petit Crenn in San Francisco, when my sister and I went there back in January 2018. The tart featured crisp, buttery pastry, thinly rolled out, with roasted mushrooms, purslane, and this porcini cream that just coated your palate with a creamy, mushroom-y flavor!

I wanted to do something similar to that tart, but with my own influences. I went with a porcini-flavored shortbread as the base of my tart. Even though the event was only for 100 people, I went with an easier-to-transport/store round of baked dough, instead of a tart shell, just to make life less stressful for me. Per Shari’s lovely suggestion, I used some thyme in the dough itself, along with powdered porcini mushrooms, just to give the tart an earthier flavor, and to reinforce the fresh thyme that I am roasting some mushrooms with. In lieu of the porcini cream, I went with a bright green, herbaceous tarragon mascarpone, made by blending roasted garlic, olive oil, and blanched tarragon together, and folding that into mascarpone to finish. The mascarpone adds a creamy component, while also almost acting like a sauce by being paired against the warm, roasted mushrooms. With the roasted mushrooms, I start by roasting them in the oven first with olive oil, salt, pepper, thyme, and garlic, to draw out some water, then finishing them in a pan with butter and more thyme, just to get them nice and caramelized. I also used some air-fried mushrooms on top as a garnish, just to add texture(another lovely suggestion of Shari’s was to do some crispy component, like fried okra, but I went with the mushrooms just to reinforce that being the ingredient!). The mushrooms I am using were king oyster, shimeji, and matsutake(for the roasted) and maitake for the fried for this rendition of the recipe, but any mushrooms work nicely! I would recommend going with maitake, enoki, or shimeji mushrooms for the air-fried ones, since they are long and spindly, perfect for frying up until crisp, and the bigger, stockier mushrooms, like shiitake, cremini, or king oyster for the roasted! To finish the tarts off, I had a matcha-tarragon salt. Went with matcha because one of my favorite bites was a tempura maitake(hen of the woods) mushroom with matcha salt. Green tea is often used in dessert, since it is so bitter that sugar and cream counter it beautifully, but in this case, I wanted to use it in a savory application, since the bitterness adds complexity and brightness to play off of the earthy flavor of the mushrooms.

For the porcini-thyme shortbread:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1g dried porcini mushrooms; crushed into a powder
1/4 tsp dried thyme; crushed into a fine powder
1 stick unsalted butter
1 tsp mushroom soy sauce
3 tbsp cold water
1 egg yolk

In a bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, porcini powder, thyme, and butter until a sand-like crumbly-textured dough forms. Mix into that the mushroom soy sauce and cold water until everything comes together into a dough. Freeze the dough for 20 minutes. Roll out the chilled dough on a floured surface to about 1/8-inch thickness. Cut out 4-inch disks and transfer to a lined sheet tray, spacing each disk at least 1 inch apart. Poke each disk with a fork. Brush the tops of the disks with some egg yolk. Bake at 375 degrees F for 15 minutes. Allow the disks to cool fully, storing them in an airtight container, before using for assembly.

For the roasted mushrooms:
25g honshimeji mushrooms
25g maitake mushrooms
25g oyster mushrooms
2 king oyster mushrooms
1 matsutake mushroom
4 cloves of garlic
8 sprigs of fresh thyme
1g salt
10g olive oil

Scatter the honshimeji and maitake mushrooms on a lined sheet tray. With the king oyster and matsutake, split these in half, lengthwise. Optionally, you can score the flat side as well. Add in the other ingredients onto the sheet tray and roast everything together for 20 minutes at 400 degrees F. Reserve the skinnier, crispier mushrooms for garnish, while with any mushrooms that are not as browned or still have a soft, squishy texture to them, pat those wetter mushrooms dry with a paper towel first.

Heat up a nonstick or cast iron pan with some more oil. Sear the patted dry mushrooms on each side for 2-3 minutes on medium-high heat, just to get the exterior of them golden-brown to finish.

For the tarragon mascarpone:
21g garlic. smashed and chopped roughly
6g fresh tarragon
1g ceremonial matcha powder
50ml olive oil
8oz mascarpone cheese
a pinch of salt

In salted water, blanch the garlic for 2 minutes, and the tarragon for 10 seconds. Shock both in cold water, and then transfer to a deep container, without the water, with the olive oil. Puree together using a stick blender until everything is combined. Season with salt, and fold into the mascarpone. Transfer to the refrigerator, storing it there until time to assemble.

For the air-fried mushrooms:
Reserved skinnier mushrooms

Place the crisped skinny mushrooms into the air fryer for 10 minutes at 325 degrees F. Store in an airtight container until time to use.

For the tarragon-matcha dust:
4.5g fresh tarragon
2g ceremonial matcha powder
1g salt

Place tarragon leaves between two dry paper towels. Microwave for 1 minute first; the tarragon should be fully dried and crinkly, but still bright green in color. Reserve some of the microwaved tarragon(one or two whole stems of it) for garnish. Place the remainder to a spice grinder with the other ingredients and blend until fully pulverized. Transfer to an airtight container until time to use.

For assembly:
Reserved microwaved tarragon

Start by piping on the tarragon-matcha mascarpone onto the top of the baked shortbread. Garnish the sides of the mascarpone with the roasted mushrooms, the top with the air-fried, and finish with a dusting the tarragon-matcha salt and leaves of the microwaved tarragon to finish.