This tart is delicious made with fresh ceps, but these can be hard to find, so I use dried ceps or porcini mushrooms instead. For me, nothing tastes more like autumn.

Serves 6


30g dried ceps
120g unsalted butter (plus extra for basting)
2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped 1 clove of garlic,
peeled and minced 600g closed-cap white mushrooms, cleaned
30g white bread
50g hazelnuts, roughly chopped
60g pancetta, finely chopped
2 eggs 100ml whipping cream
Salt and pepper
300g puff pastry 6 sprigs of fresh thyme

Place the ceps in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave to rehydrate for at least 30 minutes, then carefully lift them out of the liquid and chop roughly. Reserve the liquid for later. Heat 80g of the butter in a pan set over a medium heat; add the chopped shallots and garlic, then cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Dice 500g of the closed-cap mushrooms and slice the rest, putting these in a bowl for decoration later on. Increase the heat and add the chopped ceps and diced mushrooms to the pan. Cook for 5-10 minutes until all the water has evaporated.

Meanwhile, soak the bread in a ladleful of the cep liquid. Combine with the mushroom mix, hazelnuts, pancetta and eggs, then blitz in a food processor until puréed. Cover and place in the fridge for an hour. Remove and gradually incorporate the cream. Blitz again until well blended, then set aside.

Melt the remaining 40g of butter, then pour it over the sliced closed-cap mushrooms in an even coating. Season, then set aside. Using a little flour, roll out the puff pastry 2mm-3mm thick. With an upturned cup or saucer 12cm in diameter, cut out six discs.

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Spread the purée 2mm-3mm thick over the bases and arrange the mushroom slices on top, ensuring that each base is covered. If the butter has cooled and hardened, you may need to warm the mushrooms up a bit.

Using one sprig of thyme per tart, pull away the leaves and sprinkle them over the sliced mushrooms before brushing with a little melted butter. Season, place in the preheated oven and cook for 20-25 minutes. You may need to baste with a little extra melted butter during the cooking. Serve with a green salad.