- POLLY'S CHESTNUT TARTSWITH HAZELNUT PASTRY

For a dinner-party individual tarts, made in muffin tins, look very festive, but you can, if you prefer, cook one large tart instead. Use pastry made with half white flour - all wholemeal cloaks the taste and texture of the hazelnuts. Large mushrooms usually have more flavour but button ones will give a crisper texture to the finished dish; either are suitable.

If possible, time the tarts so thatyou arereadytoeatthem as soon as the pastry and filling are cooked. They can be heated for 5-10 minutes in the oven but the pastry will be crisper and they will look more attractive if they are served straight away. Accompany with wedges of lemon and plain boiled green beans, broccoli orcauliflower: arrange the vegetables in a circle around individual tarts. For 6.

• INGREDIENTS-

4 ozll25 9 dried chestnuts, soaked overnight in cold water

Salt

3 sticks celery

About 1/4 pint/I 50 ml milk

8 oz/250 9 mushrooms

I medium onion

4 cloves garlic

About % inchl2 cm piece fresh root ginger

21f2 oz/70 9 hazelnuts

4 oz/125 9 plain white ffour

1f2 oz/15 9 butter

I tablespoon groundnut or sunffower oil

Pepper

1f2 oz/15 9 white ffour

I teaspoon cornffour

4 teaspoons lemon iuice

11/2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

Lemon wedges to serve

PASTRY

4 oz/125 9 butter

About 2 tablespoons cold water

4 oz/125 9 wholemeal flour I dessertspoon oil

Muffin tins or 81/2 ineh/20 em tart tin

- METHOD-

Drain, rinse and pick over the soaked chestnuts, removing any black patches and pieces of dark skin. Cover with cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for 40 minutes. Add a generous pinch of salt and simmer for 10 minutes more or until tender when prodded with a fork. Drain and chop roughly.

2 Make the pastry. Crush the nuts finely, mix with the flours and proceed as forShortcrust Pastrywith Wholemeal and White Flour (see page 53). Use the pastry to line the tin(s). For muffin tins cut the pastry with a saucer if you have one the right size; otherwise cut circles with a knife. Cover with aluminium foil, moulded into the indentation(s).

3 Trim the leaf and root ends of the celery, peel off any brownish streaks, wash and slice finely. Just cover with salted water, bring to the boil and boil gently for 10 minutes or until tender but still crisp. Drain over a bowl;· keep the cooking liquor and make up to 1f2 pintl300 ml with the milk.

4 Trim the mushroom stalks. Peel and rinse large mushrooms; wash button ones. Blot drywith kitchen paperand chop orslice finely. Peel and finely chop the onion and garlic. Peel and dice the ginger, discarding any fibrous patches.

5 Pre-heat the oven to 400°F, 200°C, Gas Mark 6. Put the pastry into the oven when you startfrying the mushrooms (see below). Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 15 minutes more or until golden.

6 Melt the butter in the oil and fry the onion for8-10 minutes, turning often, until soft but not brown. Add thegarlic and ginger and fry for 3-4 minutes. Add the mushrooms, season lightly with salt and more generously with pepper and fry for 5-7 minutes or until soft; they will soak up the fat for the first few minutes, so add a little more butter if necessary. Add the flour and stir until amalgamated. Pour in the celery liquor and milk and stir continuously until thickened. Add the celery and chestnuts and simmer, stirring frequently, for 10-15 minutes·or until the pastry is baked. Stir in the cornflour, lemon juice and soy sauce. Spoon the filling into the pastry easels) and serve.