This recipe comes from the 1393 French cookbook Le Ménagier de Paris
Original Recipe
Champignons d’une nuit sont les meilleurs, et sont petits et vermeils dedans, clos dessus: et les convient peler, puis laver en eaue chaude et pourboulir; qui en veult mettre en pasté, si y mette de l’uille, du frommage et de la pouldre.
Translation
(E. Power, 1928)
Mushrooms of one night be the best and they be little and red within and closed at the top; and they must be peeled and then washed in hot water and parboiled and if you wish to put them in a pasty add oil, cheese and spice powder.
Modern Recipe
The recipe as rendered below calls for the pasties to be made just before serving. They can alternatively be made a few days in advance, refrigerated, and reheated in the oven. Or they can be made a week or two in advance and frozen. Take care to heat them slowly and thoroughly, or you may have cold centres. They are also fine served cold.
This modern recipe layout is given by the British Museum.
Ingredients:
- 450g home-made or bought shortcrust pastry, thawed if frozen
- 450g button mushrooms
- Pinch of salt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 50g Cheddar cheese, grated
- 1⁄2 tsp salt
- 1⁄8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1⁄4 tsp dry mustard powder
- 1 egg, beaten
Method:
- Use two-thirds of the pastry to line small, deep pans. Chill while making the filling. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
- Trim off and discard the bottoms of the mushroom stems, then dip the mushrooms in boiling salted water, holding them in a sieve. Drain them, pat dry, then chop or slice them.
- Put mushrooms in a bowl and mix them with the oil, cheese and seasonings.
- Fill the mixture into the pastry cases.
- Roll out the remaining pastry and use it to make lids for the pasties. Seal the lids with beaten egg. Decorate the tops with pastry trimmings and brush with the remaining egg.
- Make a small crosscut in the centre of each lid. Bake the little pies in the oven for 15–18 minutes. Serve warm.
Events
Lord Constantine has made this dish several times for the College, including the 2024 AGM. They’ve become a crowd favourite, served warm or cold. So we keep asking for more!
