Exquisite Mushroom and Ricotta Cigars With Cap Classique

Turn your next garden party or high tea occasion into a stylish affair with the mushroom and ricotta cigars made with phyllo. Serve them with a bottle of La Motte Méthode Cap Classique for an exquisite sensory experience.

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 cloves of garlic, mashed
  • a knob of butter
  • 120g shiitake mushrooms, finely diced
  • 150g ricotta cheese
  • 1 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
  • sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
  • ½ tsp truffle oil (optional)
  • 4 sheets phyllo pastry
  • 80g melted butter
  • fresh thyme leaves

Instructions

  1. Heat the olive in a frying pan and fry the garlic over a medium heat for a few minutes.
  2. Add the butter and once melted stir in the mushrooms, stirring often until cooked through.
  3. Remove from the heat and let the mushrooms cool for 15 minutes.
  4. Spoon the mushrooms into a bowl and add the ricotta, dill, sea salt and black pepper and truffle oil if used.
  5. Stir until well combined.
  6. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and line a pan with some baking paper.
  7. Unroll a sheet of phyllo on a work surface (keep the other sheets covered with a damp tea towel to avoid the pastry drying out).
  8. Cut the phyllo sheet in half lengthwise and in half crossways to make 4 rectangles.
  9. Brush each rectangle liberally with some melted butter and sprinkle with a few thyme leaves.
  10. Divide the mushroom mixture into 12 equal portions and spread a portion of the mixture along the short side of the pastry rectangle, keeping about 1 cm from the edge.
  11. Fold the pastry over the cheese along the long edges to encase the cheese and roll the pastry over the cheese from the short egde, continuing to roll until you have a cigar.
  12. Seal the join with some more melted butter and place on the baking sheet.
  13. Repeat until you have used all the pastry and cheese to make 12 cigars.
  14. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes until golden and crisp.

Serve immediately from the oven and with festive glasses of 2017 La Motte Méthode Cap Classique.