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Chanterelle and Watercress Picnic Puffs
These tasty, hand-sized parcels make a great addition to a lunchbox or picnic basket. You can use any other wild (or cultivated) mushrooms at other times of the year, swapping the watercress for whatever wild greens are in season. Serve with our pickled chanterelles and a large wild salad.
Serves : 4
Prep : 20 minutes
Cook : 20-25 minutes
- 250g chanterelles (make up the weight with other firm mushrooms if necessary)
- 2 good sized handfuls of watercress (about 200g), rinsed and drained
- 200g ready-made puff pastry
- Flour, for dusting
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large clove garlic, sliced
- 2 tablespoon finely chopped hazelnuts, toasted
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
- 1 egg, beaten
Method
- Clean and trim the chanterelles and cut them into chunks.
- Cook the watercress in boiling, salted water for 5 minutes. Drain in a colander, rinse under cold running water, then drain and squeeze out any excess water. Chop finely and set aside.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the mushrooms and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occassionally. At some point, the mushrooms will yield their juices into the pan, but keep the heat high until the liquid is evaporated.
- Add the watercress and orange juice to the mushrooms and stir well to scrape up any sticky residue from the bottom of the pan. Stir in the nutmeg and chopped hazelnuts, then remove the pan from the heat, season to taste and leave to cool.
- Preheat the oven to 180˚C and line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.
- Dust a work surface with flour and, if the pastry is not ready-rolled, roll it into a square to a thickness of about 3mm. If you are using ready-rolled, trim the rectangle of pastry into the largest square you can make (use the offcut for something else).
- Cut your square of pastry into four smaller equal squares. Imagining a diagonal line dividing up each pastry square, put a quarter of the mushroom and watercress filling on one side of that line. Brush the outer edge of each square with a little beaten egg, then fold over the pastry to make a triangular parcel, matching up the edges as carefully as you can. Press the edges together to seal, and if you like a neat finish, trim the edges straight with a knife.
- Lightly score lines across the top of each puff with a sharp knife (this will help the pastry crisp up nicely) and brush the tops with beaten egg. Put the puffs on onto the baking sheet and bake for 20–25 minutes, until golden brown.
Credits
Recipe by Wild Food UK, photos by Otherwise
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