Golden-glazed carrot, mushroom & pecan tart

 An amazing tart which I found in BBC Good food 2013 December.
I decided to make it bit more festive and add pecan nuts. That was good idea - very tasty and crunchy. Serve it with glass of cold beer and you'll enjoy it much more.

3 carrots, peeled and cut in half lengthways, or about 10 baby carrots left whole
2 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp maple syrup + extra
salt
pepper
15 x 12 cm rectangle of all-butter puff pastry from (about 200g)
1/2 yellow medium onion or 1 shallot
2 tsp butter
140 g/about 8 units chestnut mushrooms, very finely chopped
50 g chopped pecan nuts, plus a little extra to garnish
2 tbsp low-fat cream cheese
1 tbsp grated Parmesan
pinch of dried Italian herbs
few spring onions

Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.
Pop the carrots in a pan of boiling water and cook for 4-5 mins until tender.
Take our carrots from pan. Cut lengthwise big-ones. Spread the carrots out in one layer on a baking tray. Carefully toss with olive oil, season with salt, peppers and half the maple syrup. Bake for 20 mins, turning once.
Next, place the pastry rectangle on a baking parchment-lined baking sheet. Score a 1 cm border. Prick the center area with a fork and put in the oven for left 12 mins with the carrots.
Fry the onion/shallot in butter until totally soft, then stir through the mushrooms. Fry for several mins until mushrooms are tender and the mixture is dry. Spread out on a plate to cool.
Whiz cooled mushroom mixture with the nuts, cream cheese, hard cheese, Italian herbs and season with salt and peppers, so you have a coarse texture.
Remove the pastry base from the oven and gently press down the center area with the back of a spoon. Spread the mushroom mix inside and lay the glazed carrots on top. You may need to tuck the ends round to fit the carrots in. Drizzle over the remaining maple syrup and bake for a further 12-15 mins until the pastry is golden. Sprinkle with spring onions and add some more chopped nuts to serve.

Enjoy!

Recipe inspired by Good Food magazine, December 2013

Hello world! and carrot cupcakes

Cupcakes and miracles - food blog about nice and tasty things like cupcakes and miracles.
I hope you'll enjoy your visit and will come back to get know more about it. This is my first blog in English and second in my life. Still some changes must be done, but my Facebook fan page is already on. So if you'd like to know about new recipes - be sure to follow me.

These carrot cupcakes are not so fatty as their relatives with butter. They are moist and tasty. Not to sweet from inside and with nice sweet topping. Without topping can be stored for a few days or easily converted in to present.

16 units cupcakes
For the batter:
250 ml brown sugar
63 ml sunflower or light olive oil
2 XL eggs
125 ml natural yogurt (3-4% fat)
1 l shredded carrots (about 4 medium)
500 ml coarse wheat flour
125 ml almond flour
125 ml all purpose white flour (we use number 550)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp dried ginger powder
pinch of salt
100 g hazelnut

Cream:
250 g curd/cottage cheese 9% fat
2 tbsp sour cream
125 ml icing sugar

Preheat oven to 180 C.
Mix brown sugar with oil. Add eggs and mix again. Stir in yogurt.
And carrots and mix.

In second bowl mix together all flours, baking soda, powdered ginger and salt. 

Add flour mix to carrots mix and stir well.

Chop hazelnuts. Take of 3 table spoons for toppings, others add to carrot batter and mix in.

Fill in cupcakes tin lined with paper cups 3/4 of batter.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. 

Cool on the rack

For the cream - beat with handheld mixer.or whisk curd, cream and icing sugar.

Top each cupcake with cream and garnish with leftover hazelnuts.

Enjoy!