Txalupa Donostiarra

Txalupa is Donostiarra, from Donostia in the Basque Country: a small pastry boat filled with mushrooms, prawns, and cream, then browned until the top goes deep gold. The name means boat in Basque, and that matters. It isn't a skewer and it isn't a slice of bread with something piled on it. The little shell holds a hot, thick filling, the sort of pintxo a bar in San Sebastián puts down with pride and no fuss.

The method that decides it is thickness. Cook the mushrooms until their water is gone, reduce the txakoli until the pan is nearly dry, and then make the cream sauce thick enough to mound on a spoon. A loose filling soaks the pastry and runs before anyone has lifted it. A thick one holds its shape and gives you mushroom first, prawn second, cream around both.

Far from Donostia, use good button or cremini mushrooms if setas are tired, raw peeled shrimp for gambas, and small puff-pastry barquettes or vol-au-vent cases if you can't find boat moulds. The round cases lose the little boat shape, but not the method. Idiazabal is the right cheese if you have it; a young Manchego is drier and less smoky but browns cleanly. No hace falta haber pisado España. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.