Recipes of the Day: A Yukon Cocktail and Mushroom Tart Combination

February 15, 2021 ctn_admin

When Michele Genest and Jennifer Tyldesley met, they discovered they shared a love of cocktails, good food, festive occasions and the sparkling Yukon winter. They brought all three of those loves together into their first book, Cold Spell, Cocktails and Savouries for a Yukon Winter. They had so much fun they decided to produce a companion volume, Add Light and Stir, celebrating the long, glorious days of the Yukon summer. These two slim volumes feature  everything from classic Old Fashioneds to Tiki cocktails to hot toddies, all with a Northern twist. Each recipe features a little taste of the Yukon or, at the very least, an honorary mention of the places that inspired them. 

Out of the Woods Cocktail

Jennifer Tyldesley of Free Pour Jenny’s, 2020 

2 oz Woods Spirit Co Amaro 

1 oz Yukon Brewing Concepts New Growth Artisan Gin 

1/2 oz Free Pour Jenny’s The Judge’s Tonic Syrup 

2 oz soda water 

1 spruce tip or sprig of wild sage (fresh or dried) 

Chill all ingredients. Combine liquid ingredients in an Old Fashioned glass filled with ice, and stir gently to mix. Garnish as desired. 

Mushroom Tart Recipe

Morel and cremini mushrooms give these flaky tarts a wild umami flavour, beautifully met by the earthy quality of Free Pour Jenny’s Out of the Woods cocktail. 

Cream Cheese Pastry 

2 cups all purpose flour 

1 tsp kosher salt 

4 oz cold cream cheese (full fat), diced 

4 oz cold unsalted butter, diced 

1/3 cup cold 10% cream 

Pour flour and salt into the bowl of a food processer. Pulse to combine. Add cream cheese and pulse until dime-sized pieces remain. Add butter and pulse again until pea-sized pieces of butter remain. Pour cream through the spout, pulsing, until the dough clumps together when you pinch it.  

Turn dough onto a lightly floured counter and press together into a disc. Cut into four and press each quarter into a disc. Wrap and refrigerate for one hour.  

Makes enough for two batches of mushroom tarts. 

Filling 

½ oz (about ½ cup) dried morel mushrooms 

2 cups diced Cremini mushrooms 

1 Tbsp butter 

1 Tbsp olive oil 

3 cloves garlic, minced 

1 tsp soya sauce 

½ cup morel soaking liquid 

1 large egg, beaten 

1 green onion, halved and minced 

1 Tbsp 35% cream 

½ cup plus 2 Tbsp freshly grated Parmesan 

Place morels in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Allow to rehydrate for 30 minutes. Remove morels from soaking liquid, squeezing to extract all the liquid, reserving liquid. Slice morels lengthwise then crosswise into ½-inch pieces.  

Heat oil and butter in a medium-sized frying pan over medium heat. When fat is sizzling, add Cremini mushrooms and sauté for 5 minutes, or until starting to brown. Add morels and garlic and sauté for another 2 minutes. Add ½ cup of soaking liquid (reserve the rest for sauce or soup) and simmer until the liquid has evaporated.  

Remove mushrooms from heat and transfer to a bowl to cool. Once cool, stir in remaining ingredients, reserving 2 Tbsp Parmesan for sprinkling over top.  

On a floured countertop roll out one disc of pastry to a thickness of 3/8-inch. Cut into 2 1/4-inch rounds with a biscuit cutter and place into mini tart shells, tamping down gently with your fingers. Repeat until you have used 2 discs of pastry and have filled 24 mini tart moulds. (There may be some pastry scraps left over. Refrigerate and make empanadas with any leftover filling!) 

Place a heaping teaspoon of filling in each tart shell. Drop a pinch of Parmesan on each one.  

Refrigerate tarts while oven is preheating to 425F. Place racks on the bottom and middle of the oven.   

When oven is ready, bake tarts on the bottom rack for 7 minutes. Move tarts to the middle rack, turn heat down to 375F and bake for another 13 to 15 minutes, until filling is bubbling and pastry is golden brown. 

Remove from oven, allow to cool for a couple of minutes, then remove tarts from tin.  

Serve at once. 

Makes 24 tarts, enough appetizers for four to six people.  

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