Tarte Flambée Forestière

While restaurants in France and abroad add all sorts of toppings to tarte flambée (flammekueche) these days, the traditional toppings I’ve always seen in Alsace are crème fraîche and onion with either speck or mushrooms (or both). So here’s my recipe for tarte flambee forestiere, the traditional vegetarian tarte flambée; serve it with a properly dressed green salad (see video below). Philippe, a winemaker friend of mine in Alsace, makes a delicious sweet tart flambée adding thin slices of apple to the crème fraîche base and flaming it with Calvados.

Serves 4 (or more) as a starter

Ingredients

200ml crème fraîche
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
Salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 brown onions, finely shaved
2 teaspoons vegetable or olive oil
150g button mushrooms

Dough

7g dried yeast
1 cup warm water
375g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
½ teaspoon salt flakes, crushed

Method

Make Dough: Place yeast in a bowl, add water and set aside for 10 minutes or so, until it starts to foam. Add to combined flour and salt and mix to form a soft dough. Tip onto a lightly floured bench and knead for a few minutes until smooth and no longer sticky. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and set aside in a warm place for an hour or 2, until doubled in size.
Meanwhile, combine crème fraîche, egg yolk, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Refrigerate until needed.
Toss onion with oil and salt and set aside in a fine sieve to drain until needed, then squeeze well to remove excess moisture.
Preheat oven to 250°C.
Divide dough into 2 pieces.
Roll one piece into a rectangle as thin as possible, at least 35 x 20cm, and place on a baking paper-lined oven tray.
Spread with half the crème fraîche mixture, arrange half the mushrooms on top, sprinkle with salt and scatter with half the onion.
Place in the oven for 12 minutes or so, until the base is crisp and top is well-coloured.
Meanwhile, assemble the second tart with remaining ingredients (or refrigerate for another day).
Cut cooked tart into slices and serve immediately while the second tart is cooking.