(This is Post 3 in the series Cooking with the Books.)

I started the “Cooking with the books” series to reacquaint myself with the hoards of cookbooks I have on my bookshelf. And I am so happy that I did.

All the cookbooks that I have bought (new or second hand) have been bought after thoroughly going through their reviews on amazon or other sites. So I knew I have a good collection of cookbooks. But I never took too much advantage of it- always trying recipes on other people’s blogs ( I blame pinterest!) or recipes that I have come up with after eating something I like or one of my mom’s recipes. The cookbooks, as a result, always ended up eating dust.

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I love Michelle’s site- The Brown Eyed Baker.

In the past I have made the portobello pesto pizza adapted from her site, and it was wonderful.

Coincidentally (although it was not intended) I chose another mushroom recipe from her site to try.

Last week, it was my turn to host the weekly coffee meets we ladies of our small town have every Friday.These get-togethers are my lifeline and thanks to the amazing group of people I have met through these weekly affairs, living in this town has actually become enjoyable.

While browsing through FoodGawker for some appetizer ideas to make for my friends, I came across these caramelized onions and mushroom tartlets. One look at the recipe and its rave reviews, I was sure this is what I had to make.

I love mushrooms.

And caramelized onions. And Gruyere.

And I loooooooove puff pastry. So I knew these would be delish.

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V loves Indian food. He prefers it to all other cuisines. And unlike me, he is not too experimental with his food. Give him dal chawal (a rice and lentil Indian dish) 365 days of the year (366, in case its a leap year), he will be a satisfied customer.

So, when I decide to make something that would be defined “experimental” in his dictionary, I have to do a lot of planning. I have to mentally prepare him for it so that he is not caught by surprise. And if its a vegetable he doesn’t like, my task is made that much more difficult.

Now, V is not particularly crazy about mushrooms.

And if V is not particularly crazy about something, that thing will not get anywhere near him.

I, on the other hand, love mushrooms. And, alas, me being ‘the quintessential Indian wife’ (barf!) that I am, mushrooms don’t feature on our grocery list.

Well, 9 out of ten times they don’t.

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