Mushroom and Chard Tart

This rustic savory tart is so easy and quick to put together that it has no right to be this delicious. The secret is frozen puff pastry made with butter. Inspired by one my friend Alison made on the fly, it's free-form, forgiving and endlessly riffable. Use spinach or kale instead of chard, feta instead of goat cheese, shallots instead of onion; add some sliced roasted peppers or fresh or sun-dried tomatoes – your imagination is the limit. Use any kind of fresh mushrooms – crimini, button, oyster, beech, maitake (hen of the woods), shiitake, chanterelle – or a combination. Lately I've been buying 8-ounce boxes of a nice assortment. Pull apart clumpy mushrooms such as maitake or enoki, slice or quarter chunky mushrooms like crimini or button; slice larger ones such as king oyster.

Dufour Classic Puff Pastry, available at well stocked supermarkets, works well for this recipe. Trader Joe's also makes a very good all-butter frozen puff pastry, but (in my neck of the woods, anyway) they only sell it beginning in September or October, through the winter holidays. (Will someone please tell them it's great for easy summer baking?!)

READ “Effortless summer baking: the (life-changing!) joy of frozen puff pastry”

Let the puff pastry defrost overnight in the fridge. In a pinch, you can also defrost it at room temperature, but keep an eye on it -- you want to make sure the dough is pliable but still chilled. 

If by some chance you don't finish eating it, store it in a large, sealable plastic bag or other airtight container, and when ready to eat, reheat it for 10 minutes in a 400 degree oven. (If you don't reheat it, or if you try to reheat it in a microwave, the crust will probably be limp or soggy.)

Serves 6 to 8 or more, depending on whether you slice it small for a pre-dinner nibble or serve larger pieces as a first course for a sit-down meal. 

Ingredients

2 bunches chard (red chard, Swiss chard, rainbow chard – whatever looks good), about 6 ounces each

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 onion, thinly sliced