Impressive FunGuy Mushroom Casserolettes

There is no greater joy than cooking a beautiful meal for your family or friends and, after hours of preparation and work, watch them put a morsel of your dish in their mouth then “mmmmm” with joy.

So here’s a dish that is insanely complicated, drool-inducingly delicious, and looks amazing. It will leave you exhausted, but it will be worth it. You can even make it ahead of time and pop it in the oven at a party, whisking it out like it’s no big deal. We won’t tell!

Here we go:

EQUIPMENT YOU’LL NEED

• Board or clean surface
• Rolling pin
• 8-inch pie pan
• 4½ inch tartlet pans or ramekins
• wax paper
• knife
• small sauce pan
• baking sheet
• dried beans or rice

DIRECTIONS:

Casserolettes

1. Defrost the frozen pastry shells overnight by leaving them out on the counter.
2. Next day, crank your oven up to 450°.
3. On a lightly floured board with a rolling pin that’s dusted with flour, roll out the pastry shells very thin.
4. Cut that big swatch of pastry into 8-inch circles. You can use an 8-inch pie pan and a knife. Or wing it. Or use a compass with a knife in the clipper. Or buy a laser alignment system with satellite input and GPS. It doesn’t matter how you do it! Roll out the trimmings and cut them into strips about ½ an inch wide and about 4 inches long to use as “handles” (it’ll make sense by the end of the recipe. Trust us).
5. Line four 4½-inch tartlet pans or ramekins with the circles.
6. Press the dough firmly against the edges of the pans and prick a few times with a fork. Lay a circle of wax paper on top of the dough, fill to the top with dry rice or dried beans (this ensures the dough remains flat after baking). Bake the pans and also the “handles” in the oven for about 10 minutes. Remove the “handles” to cool and bake the pans 3 minutes more. Remove pans and cool.
7. Reduce oven to 400° F

Filling

1. In a skillet, heat: 3 Tablespoons butter. Toss in 6 FunGuy mushrooms, finely chopped. Sweat them about 5 minutes, or until they render down. Set aside.
2. Steam 16 asparagus tips for 6 minutes, until they are just tender and still bright green. Dunk in cold water to stop the cooking, set aside.
3. In a buttered baking dish, poach 4 small fillets of sole (each cut into 3 pieces), add the chopped shallots, 2 sliced FunGuy mushrooms, salt and pepper, and 1 cup fish stock.
4. Cover with wax paper and bake for 10 minutes.

Presentation

1. Remove the beans, ditch the wax paper, then line each pastry shell with ¼ of the cooked mushrooms. On top, arrange 4 asparagus tips, and on the asparagus, place three pieces of the fish fillets. Keep warm.
2. Cook the poaching liquid over high heat in a small saucepan until it is reduced to about ½ a cup. Stir in ½ cup béchamel sauce and 1 Tablespoon butter. Beat 1 egg yolk with a little of the hot béchamel then stir in the remaining sauce.
3. Tip: It’s really important to gently marry the sauce and the egg yolk first, so the hot sauce you put in doesn’t scramble the egg. (We warned you, this is hard! You can do it.)
4. Pour this sauce over the fish in the pastry shells, garnish with a finely chopped truffle (if you’re a millionaire, or asking someone to marry you tonight), or use 1 very thinly sliced FunGuy mushroom. Remember the handles? Pinch one into each pan so it looks like the handle of a tiny saucepan. Put them in the oven for about 8 minutes.

You can let these cool, wrap them in tin foil, and reheat them tomorrow, or serve them immediately. You worked your tail off on these and they are amazing but remember, your guests don’t need to know that. When they gasp and stare at you with admiration in their eyes, just shrug and mumble how it’s just a little thing you whipped up. ;-)

Did you cook this? Upload a pic to Instagram and tag with #funguy.