Pastry + Chicken + Tarragon + Mushroom = One delicious tart. Now this even has the approval of my mushroom hating fiancée. If that’s not a rave endorsement I don’t know what is. The filling for this tart is creamy and the pastry is crisp and buttery. I think this Chicken and Tarragon Tart is perfect for the summer evenings with a green salad and maybe a glass of wine.
This Chicken Tart has two influences; the first is a dish I ate whilst at the Epcot international Festival of the Holidays. The second is a tart made by my cousin, a chef, after demolishing it we talked about fillings and techniques and that set me off on this path. As you can see this tart has been in the works for a while. It is truly scrumptious and will not last long.
There are two components to get right here pastry and filling. The pastry doesn’t take a huge amount of work it simply requires cold butter, sifted flour, a pinch of salt and a little water. It does require chilling twice so allow enough time to make this. This pastry is one of those that once you know how to make you will find so many uses for it.
The filling is another very simple recipe it takes chicken and browns in garlic oil before tossing in sliced mushrooms. Whilst in a separate pan you make a béchamel sauce and mix chopped fresh tarragon, then combine the two before filling the pastry case. This filling I could eat in a tart, on toast, in a jacket potato, it really is that good.
My Chicken and Tarragon Tart is perfect for easy entertaining. Bring this out and see your guests dig in, you may need to make sure there’s enough for seconds. The effort to make you own pastry, I believe, is worth it. However this would work just as well with shop bought shortcrust pastry. You can even get it ready rolled that would certainly speed it up and to tell you the truth your guests won’t mark you down for it.
Hungry for more chicken recipes:
Sticky Honey Garlic Chicken
Chicken & Bacon Pot Pie
Chicken Burrito Bowl
Grilled Chicken Sandwich
Orange Chicken
Coronation Chicken
I hope you enjoy this Chicken and Tarragon Tart as much as I do. If you try it, let me know what you think in the comments below. Share your pictures with me on social media and use #CUBBintheKitchen to be featured in my stories. Happy Eating!
Chicken & Tarragon Tart
Ingredients
- 225 grams Plain Flour All Purpose
- 100 grams Butter Cold
- Pinch of Salt
- 2-3 tbsp Water
For the Filling
- 1 tbsp Garlic Oil
- 4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
- 150 grams Mushrooms
- 50 grams Butter
- 3 tbsp Plain Flour All Purpose
- 300 ml Milk
- Handfulf of Fresh Tarragon Leaves Approx. 1.5 tbsp Chopped
- Salt & Pepper
Instructions
- Make the PastrySieve the Flour into a large mixing bowl and cube the Butter. Add the cubed cold butter to the flour and using your fingertips rub the Butter into the Flour until you get a fine breadcrumb texture. Then add a pinch of salt and 2 tbsp of Cold Water and mix together if needed you can add another tbsp. of water. Gently knead the pastry together for 2 mins and wrap chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Line the Pie DishOn a lightly floured surface roll out the pastry to a circle that will cover the pie dish and have extra over-hang. Do not trim edges. Using a fork dock the base and make little holes for the steam to escape. Chill in the fridge for 30 mins.
- Chicken & MushroomsPreheat the oven to 200ªC. Dice the chicken into bite sized pieces and slice the mushrooms. Heat a frying pan and add the Garlic Oil. Once hot tip in the diced Chicken and cook until you can see no pink. Add the mushrooms and fry until the chicken is golden and the mushrooms have released excess moisture. Tip into a large bowl.
- Let’s Get Sauce-yIn the frying pan melt the 50g of Butter. Stir in the flour and cook for about 3 minutes stirring constantly. Now slowly add the milk whisking always until smooth. Reduce the heat and simmer still stirring for around 6 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Season with salt and pepper and the chopped Tarragon Leaves, then pour over the chicken and mushrooms and combine and set aside.
- Blind BakingTake the pastry from the fridge and line with parchment or foil and weigh down with baking beans, rice or other. And bake for 20 minutes. Once the time is up remove the lining and return to the oven for 6 minutes to colour.
- Final stepTake the blind baked pastry and pour in the filling. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and enjoy.
