Culinary legend Tina Duncan draws on a lifetime’s experience of cooking for a crowd with her cookbook Plated. Here’s a taste.

This tart is a wonderful combination of autumnal flavours — mushroom, quince and pecorino. I’m a great lover of a free-form tart and this method can be used for so many different fillings. These are quite small, suitable for an entrée or lunch dish, but they can be made any size you like.

Serves: 6 | Prep time: 20mins | Cook time: 45mins

Ingredients

• 1 cup cream
• 1 egg, plus 2 yolks
• 1 clove garlic
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp white pepper
• ¾ cup grated pecorino
• 30g butter
• 300g brown button mushrooms, sliced
• 1 tsp finely chopped tarragon or thyme leaves
• 2 tblsp quince jelly
• 2 sheets pre-rolled flaky pastry

Method

1. Combine the cream and eggs in a small saucepan and whisk to combine well. Add the garlic, salt, pepper and pecorino and cook over a low heat stirring constantly to avoid lumps while cooking the custard. Continue cooking until custard has thickened and almost comes to the boil. Pour into a bowl to cool.

2. Melt butter in a medium pan and sauté the mushrooms and tarragon on a high heat until golden and starting to caramelise. If the heat is too low they will sweat and stew. Stir in quince jelly until melted and integrated with the mushrooms and set aside to cool.

3. Preheat oven to 200°C. Cut each pastry sheet into 4 and put 2 squares aside for another day. With a sharp pointed knife, cut a line 1.5cm in from the edge around each square but don’t cut right through the pastry.

4. Spread 2 tablespoons of the cold custard into the centre square of each pastry and top with the mushrooms, being careful to stay clear of the edging.

5. Bake for 20 minutes until the pastry is puffed and golden and cooked on the bottom.

6. Serve with a green salad on the side.

TIPS: The custard is best made the day before to firm up in the refrigerator, and mushrooms can be prepped the day before. The tarts can be constructed and kept, covered, in the refrigerator for several hours before cooking.

tinalovestocook.com