Brie And Mushroom Pie

This week for meat-free Monday I'm revisiting a favourite of mine.

Tonight we've been invited by some friends to a French wine tasting and I was asked to bring some food to share.  The wines are all going to be reds from Bordeaux, Burgundy, St Emillon, so I needed to come up with a food match that would compliment the wines, but also be portable.

Mushrooms are a wonderful 'meaty' vegetable and go so well with the wines from Burgundy, made from Pinot Noir. Combined with sweet caramelised onion and creamy brie, what more could you want?

This dish is also great for a dinner party because you can do all the preparation earlier in the day, leaving the baking until just before you are planning to serve. Tonight I'll take the pie uncooked and then just pop it in the oven when I get to my friend's house. Twenty minutes or so later, we'll have a beautiful, golden pastry filled with melted brie and soft onion and mushroom. Perfect with a couple of drinks and great company!

Because the filling and pastry of this pie are so rich, a simple salad is perfect as a side dish. Crisp and refreshing rocket, pear and parmesan is a favourite of mine, but you could serve with any salad you like.

Brie And Mushroom Pie

2 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced
A couple of drizzles of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 tsp honey
400g button mushrooms, sliced
120g brie cheese, chopped
2 Tbs parsley, chopped
2 tsp fresh thyme, leaves picked
2 sheets of frozen puff pastry, defrosted
Salt and pepper to taste
egg wash to brush

Place onions in a bowl, cover with damp paper towel and microwave for 3-4 minutes, or until soft.
Heat a drizzle of oil in a frying pan over medium heat and fry onions and garlic for about 5 minutes, or until lightly golden and soft.
Add the honey and cook for a further 2 minutes or until caramelised. Set aside to cool.
In a separate frying pan, heat another drizzle of oil and fry the mushrooms for about 5 minutes until tender and they have released their juices. Season to taste.
When cool, mix the mushrooms and onion together and stir through parsley, thyme and cheese.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
Place one sheet of pastry on a baking try lined with baking paper.
Heap the filling into the middle of the pastry square, leaving at least 1cm around the entire edge.
Use the egg wash to brush around the edge and cover with the second sheet of pastry. Try to push out any air in the parcel and gently press the edges of the pastry together to seal.
Cut a couple of holes in the top of the pastry to let steam escape and then brush with the egg wash.

Bake for about 20-25 mins, or until the pastry is puffed and golden. Remove from the oven and rest for 5 minutes before serving.

To serve, cut into large pieces and serve with a simple rocket, pear and parmesan salad.

Enjoy!

Caramelised Onion Pizza

When a big night of drinking is on the cards, you really need some substantial food to nibble on so that you don't get too tipsy!

Last night we went to the Kellermeister Melbourne wine tasting and tried 19 of their delicious wines. These wines covered  recent vintage Riesling and Pinot Gris, to the big boy reds - Shiraz, Grenache and Mataro. To finish off, there were some lovely sweeter styles.

As in previous years, the group of us going had all taken a couple of foodie items to share. Last night we had some beautiful cheese and fruit bread, zucchini fritters with a chilli/mint/yoghurt dipping sauce, charcuterie, antipasto and gorgeous lemongrass chicken. My contribution to the food was this beautiful caramelised onion, goat's cheese and rosemary pizza. Full of intense flavours, but light enough that it worked well with the range of wines that we tried.

We ate the pizza at room temperature, but it would be great served hot with a light rocket salad on the side. I like my pizza crust quite thin, so rolled this out to fit a large baking tray, but if you like the base a bit more doughy, then just use a smaller tray.

If you're not a fan of goat's cheese, then thin slices of a brie or camembert would be great too. You would probably only want to add the slices of cheese just as the pizza comes out of the oven, rather than baking it.

Caramelised Onion and Goat's Cheese Pizza

50g butter

3 large red onions, halved and thinly sliced

120g soft goat's cheese

1 Tbs rosemary sprigs

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat butter in a large frypan over medium heat until bubbling. 

Add the onion and cook for about 45 minutes, or until the onion is soft and caramelised. Stir regularly to stop the onion from sticking and burning. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Allow to cool.

Dough

1 1/2 tsp dry yeast

pinch sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup oil (chilli or lemon infused, if you like)

2 cups plain flour

Combine yeast, sugar, 1/4 cup of flour and 1/4 cup lukewarm water in a small bowl and stir to combine.

Cover the bowl and stand in a warm place for 10-15 minutes, or until foamy.

Place the remaining flour, salt, oil, yeast mixture and 3/4 cup lukewarm water in a food processor and whiz until the mixture forms a ball and comes away cleanly from the side. Add a bit more flour if it seems too wet, or water if it seems to dry.

Turn the dough out into a lightly greased bowl, cover and leave in a warm place for about 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

Knock down the dough and turn on to a lightly floured bench.

Knead gently, then roll out until about 5mm thick.

Lightly spray a oven tray with oil and place the dough on the tray.

Bake the dough for 10 minutes, or until it starts to puff and turn a light golden brown.

Remove from the oven, top with an even layer of the onion, blob with goat's cheese and sprinkle with the rosemary sprigs.

Bake for another 10-15 minutes or until the base is golden and crisp.

Allow to cool for a few minutes, cut into large squares and enjoy with your favourite red wine!