Roasted Asparagus, Mushroom, Bacon & Cheese Tart

Ingredients

• 4 strips bacon
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4-pound carrots, peeled and 1/4” diced
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1/2-pound asparagus, trimmed and sliced in thirds, widthwise
• 10 ounces crimini mushrooms
• 1 cup extra sharp cheddar cheese, grated
• 4 ounces goat cheese, warmed
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons of fresh chives, minced
• Savory 11” Tart crust, pre, blind baked

Directions

1. In a medium skillet, cook bacon until crisp. Remove from the fat. Cool and crumble. Set aside.
2. Add additional olive oil to the bacon fat, if needed to coat the bottom of the pan and return skillet to medium heat. Add the carrots and season with salt and pepper. Cook until just tender, about five minutes, then add garlic, sauté for another minute. Add the peas and cook for one minute more. Remove from heat. Cool.
3. Preheat oven to 400F °.
4. Place asparagus on a sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast for 15 minutes. Cool
5. Slice mushrooms in half width-wise, so you have top rounds and bottom rounds with stems. Dice the bottom rounds and stems and place then on a sheet pan. Score the top rounds with a design. I used a paring knife and cut on a slight angle, both ways to remove a small wedge of mushroom, to make the star pattern. You can make any pattern you like. To make the design visible after cooking the mushrooms, make sure you remove the dark skin of the mushroom so you can see the contrasting white flesh of the mushroom.
6. Brush a half sheet pan with olive oil and place the chopped mushrooms on one side and the mushroom caps, cut side down, on the other side. Drizzle the mushrooms with more olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast the mushrooms 10 minutes and stir. Cook longer if needed. Cool.
7. Lower oven temperature to 350 F. Warm goat cheese in a heat-proof dish so it’s easy to spread.
8. Smear goat cheese on the pre-baked crust with an offset spatula or a knife. Sprinkle cheddar on top of the goat cheese.
9. Mix bacon, chopped mushrooms, asparagus to carrot-pea mixture in the skillet. Pour them evenly into the tart shell.
10. Beat the eggs well with the cream, add the chives, salt and pepper. Pour egg mixture into the tart shell.
11. Place the mushroom caps on top of tart spacing them decoratively and pressing them slightly so the bottoms are just sitting in the egg mixture.
12. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, until the eggs are set.

Notes

Here is a recipe for the tart shell. I added a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper to mine.