Mini Pink Grapefruit Curd Bakewell Tarts - Daring Bakers' June 2009 Challenge

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.Bakewell Tart…er…pudding.

I am not a good baker. I don't bake very well. I can cook better than I bake. This is my first Daring Bakers' challenge. I have decided to join because it challenges me to become a better baker.

I have never made a short crust pastry from scratch. Despite a small drama, I have completed my first challenge with good results.

I have decided to use curd instead of jam for my mini bakewell tarts mainly because I have never made curd before. So it's something new that I like to try.

I saw this Blood Orange curd Tarlets recipe from Donna Hay magazine but unfortunately blood oranges are not in season at the moment. So I substituted it with pink grapefruit. I made a batch of Pink Grapefruit Curd Tarlets and some extra curd for my Mini Pink Grapefruit Curd Bakewell Tarts.

Mini Pink Grapefruit Curd Bakewell Tarts
Makes 8

Ingredients

One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)
Bench flour250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz)
Pink grapefruit curd, warmed for spreadability (recipe follows)
One quantity frangipane (recipe follows)
One handful blanched, flaked almonds

Assembling the tarts

1. Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface.
2. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out.
3. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll.
4. When the pastry is to the desired thickness, cut out 8 circles big enough to cover the mini tart pans using round-shaped cookie cutter. Transfer them to the mini tart pans, press in and trim the excess dough.
5. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits.
6. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.
7. Preheat oven to 200C/400F.
8. Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of curd onto the pastry base.

   

9. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 20 minutes.

   

10. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish.
11. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.
    

    

12. The finished tarts will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking.
13. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter.

    

14. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry Receipe

Ingredients

225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Method

1. Sift together flour, sugar and salt.
2. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater.
3. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.
   

   

4. Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract and quickly mix into the flour mixture.
5. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.
6. Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

   

Frangipane Recipe

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Method

1. Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy.
2. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine.
4. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again.
5. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well.
6. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.

Pink Grapefruit Curd Recipe

Ingredients

Pink Grapefruit Curd
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup (125 ml) pink grapefruit juice, strained
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
3/4 cup (165 g) caster (superfine) sugar
70 g cold butter, chopped

Method

1. Place the egg yolks, orange juice, lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan over low heat and whisk to combine.
2. Cook, stirring constantly, for 8-10 minutes or until thickened.
3. Remove from heat and gradually add the butter, stirring well after each addition.
4. Pour into a bowl, press some plastic wrap or baking paper onto the surface so it is completely covered.
5. Remove from heat and gradually add the butter, stirring well after each addition.
6. Pour into a bowl, press some plastic wrap or baking paper onto the surface so it is completely covered and refrigerate for 1 hour or until thickened.

RIP MJ

Penang 'Michael Jackson' Drink

I heard the sad news about Michael Jackson's death today, my last day in Penang.

RIP MJ the king of pop.

Leaving, On A Jet Plane

All my bags are packed. I'm ready to go.

Today I'm flying so that I can visit my family in Malaysia.

I'm also going to spend a week in Shangri-La's Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa in Penang Island.

All in all, I will be away for two weeks. I'm going to try to update my blog as often as I can.

I will definitely post my first Daring Bakers' Challenge on June 27.

If all else fails, find me at Twitter.

Is that the taxi waiting, blowing his horn?

The Battle of The Dogs - Tortilla, Roti and Puff Pastry Hot Dogs

The newly opened Italian-Malaysian Fusion Restaurant Bonta Vita has generated a lot of buzz in Sydney lately (both positive and negative).

The most talked-about menu item from Bonta Vita is The Rizza (Roti + Pizza = Rizza), which is a cross between Roti and Pizza.

According to their menu: Rizza - We have combined the best of Malaysia (Roti) and the best of Italy (Pizza) and added them in one new dish and we called it Rizza. The Rizza base would be Roti and the fillings are pure Italian ingredients.

You can read more about this Restaurant and their Rizza from these Aussie food blogs: Raspberri Cupcakes, Here Comes The Food and Not Quite Nigella.

I was pondering whether I can successfully fuse an American-Malaysian dish?

How about fusing this:

with this:

Here I am, making a Roti Dog using these two ingredients:

"Malaysian Roti Canai" and "American Hot Dog"

What is the result: ROTI DOG? Or should I call it ROT DOG?

One led to another: when I was clearing my fridge for my 2 weeks home trip to Malaysia tomorrow, I decided to try two more variations using the Mini Tortilla and Puff Pastry:

Here are the Dogs:

Here are the verdicts: The Puff Pastry dog looks the best and tastes the best. The crispiness of the puff pastry in contrast with the softness of the hot dog gives the best result of the three.

Here are the recipes:

Tortilla Dog Recipe

Ingredients

1 hot dog
1 mini tortilla

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Wrap the tortilla around the hot dog. Secure with a toothpick.
3. Bake in oven for 10 minutes or until tortilla is browned.

Roti Dog Recipe

Ingredients:

1 hot dog
1 roti canai / paratha
Oil spray

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. Wrap the roti around the hot dog. Secure with a toothpick.
3. Spray a thin layer of oil over the surface.
4. Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until roti is puffed and browned.

Puff Pastry Dog

Ingredients

1 hot dog
1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

Method

1. Preheat oven to 220C.
2. Wrap the puff pastry around the hot dog.
3. Brush egg yolk on the surface.
4. Bake in oven for 12 minutes or until puffed and browned.

Serving suggestion:

Tortilla Dog: Top it with guacamole, salsa, melted cheese or chilies
Roti Dog: Serve it with curry.
Puff Pastry Dog: Dip it in tomato sauce or mustard. It's flaky, delicious and you don't need anything else to go with it. I love this dog the best!

Asparagus Cappuccino

Asparagus Cappuccino - a frothy fantasy of asparagus soup. A winter warmer made from summery ingredients.

Fancy a cuppa?

Asparagus Cappuccino Recipe

(Adapted from ABC Delicious: Let's do Lunch)

Serves 8

Ingredients

25 g unsalted butter

1/2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 sticks celery, chopped

1 baby fennel bulb, chopped

1 medium potato, chopped

1 tbsp chopped tarragon

375ml chicken stock

350 g (about 12 spears) asparagus, woody ends trimmed, chopped

300 ml thick cream.

Method

1. Heat the butter and oil; fry the onion, celery and fennel for 1 minute.
2. Add the potato, tarragon and stock and cook for 10 minutes.
3. Add the asparagus and cook for a further 5 minutes until the vegetables are tender.
4. Set aside to cool slightly then place in a blender and process until smooth.
5. Season well with salt and pepper and add the cream.
6. Just before serving reheat the soup gently, and you can blend with an electric hand blender to forth the soup. Pour into serving cups.

Salmon and Brie Quiche

Yesterday was my bestie Miss M's birthday. I baked this Salmon and Brie Quiche, one of her favourite dishes, to wish her a very happy birthday.

Quiche is a very common lunch item in Australian cafes and bakeries. One of the interesting facts about quiche is that Bruce Feirstein's 1982 bestseller 'Real Men Don't Eat Quiche' typecasts quiche as a stereotypically feminine food.

Errr... I beg to differ though... Miss M's husband loves quiche... I bet he finished 3/4 of the quiche if not all by now.

Salmon and Brie Quiche Recipe
Serves 6

Ingredients

2 sheets frozen shortcrust pastry, thawed
1 x 415 g canned Salmon
3 eggs
300 ml thickened cream
2 tbsp chopped dill
1 tbsp baby capers, drained
Salt and pepper
150 g Brie

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200C (400F). Place a 23 x 3.5cm fluted quiche tin onto a baking tray.
2. Line quiche tin with pastry, cutting and joining pastry where necessary* (See note at bottom of post)
3. Trim excess pastry. Prick base with a fork, line with a sheet of bake paper and fill with dried beans or rice. Bake for 15 minutes. remove paper and beans and return to oven for 5 minutes. Reduce oven to 180C (350C).
4. Meanwhile, drain salmon well and remove and discard skin and bones. Fake salmon with a fork. In a medium bowl, whisk egg, cream, dill, capers, salt and pepper together.
5. Scatter salmon into pastry shell and pour over cream mixture.

   

6. Cut cheese into wedges and arrange on top of filling.

   

7. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until golden, puffed and set in the centre. Serve warm or cold with salad.

Note: To join pastry pieces, wet edges with a little water. Overlap edges and press together to join.

Sweet and Sour Pork Chops with Yellow Bell Pepper

Chinese sweet and sour dishes have always been comfort food for many. It's winter and freezing here in Sydney. Mr J is away in Perth and I am getting busy preparing for our trip to Malaysia at the end of this week. This one-pot Sweet and Sour Pork Chop dish which is our all time favourite, will be the dinner for little Miss C and me tonight.

It's delicious, very easy to make and it's a healthier option than Takeaway Chinese Food.

Chinese Sweet and Sour Pork Chops with Yellow Bell Pepper (Capsicum) Recipe
Serve 4

4 x Pork Chops
1 medium onion, sliced
1 yellow bell pepper (yellow capsicum), cut into long strips
2 tbsp green peas
4 tbsp oil
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp tomato ketchup (I use Heinz)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Corn starch water (mix 1 tbsp water with 1 1/2 tsp corn starch in a bowl)

Method

1. Heat 3 tbsp of oil in a frying pan and pan fry pork chops until brown on both sides and cooked through (approximately 3 minutes on each side depending on the thickness of your chops).
2. Remove and place them on a serving plate.
3. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a wok or a sauce pan, stir fry the onion until soft, add yellow bell pepper and green peas and stir fry for a further minute.
4. Add water, rice wine vinegar, sugar, ketchup, salt, Worcestershire sauce; bring to a boil.
5. Add corn starch water to thicken the sauce.
6. Pour the sauce over the pork chops and serve immediately with steamed rice.

Stir-Fried Noodles with Chinese Roast Duck

I promised my friend Miss D that I would post a recipe with instant noodles (we call it Maggie Mee in Malaysia and Singapore). I decided to make this dish using the left-over roast duck from the Peking Duck Cocktail Wantons yesterday.

It's an easy and great recipe for making a quick lunch.

Stir-Fried Noodles with Chinese Roast Duck Recipe
Serve 1

1 packet instant noodles (Maggie Mee)
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup shredded store-bought roast duck
1 tbsp Hoisin sauce (海鲜酱)
1/2 cup bean sprouts
1/2 cup spring onions, cut into 3cm


Method

1. Add instant noodles and 1 cup of water in a wok or a pan.
2. Cook until noodle is soft and has absorbed all water.
3. Add shredded duck meat and hoisin sauce. Stir and mix well.
4. Add bean sprouts and spring onions and stir fry until just wilted.
5. Serve immediately.

Peking Duck Cocktail Wantons

I was craving for Peking duck after reading this post from eatshowandtell. What a clever and easy way to transform a store-bought roast duck to a crispy skin Peking duck!

There I was in Chatswood (mini Chinatown on North Shore of Sydney) buying a roast duck on a Saturday morning. I was hesitating whether I should buy the Peking duck pancakes, but I decided not to as I had some wanton wrappers in the fridge. Why not add a modern twist to this old classic?

Peking Duck Cocktail Wantons Recipe
Makes 24

1 store-bought roast duck, boned, skin-on and thinly sliced
24 wanton wrappers
1 Lebanese cucumber, diced
Hoisin sauce (海鲜酱), to drizzle
Finely chopped spring onions, for garnish

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C (350F).
2. Brush both sides of 12 wanton wrappers with oil. Ease into a 12 x 1/3 cup capacity muffin pan.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden and crisp.
4. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with remaining wrappers and oil.
5. Place wanton cases onto a serving plate.
6. Arrange a little diced cucumber in the bottom of each. Top with 2 slices of duck. Drizzle with hoisin sauce and garnish with spring onion.

Paris Angelina's Chocolat L'Africain (Hot Chocolate)

Angelina is one of my favourite salons de thé (tearooms) in Paris. It's only a stone throw away from the Louvre museum, opposite the Tuileries Garden, hidden beneath the arcades of Rue de Rivoli and within sight of the Eiffel Tower.

This tearoom was founded in 1903. In the old days, the fashion designer Coco Chanel and the writer Marcel Proust used to take their five o'clock tea here. King George V of Britain had his own engraved glasses here. Today, the famous artists Catherine Deneuve, Britney Spears and Patricia Kass are regular customers.

Their Chocolat Africain is arguably the best hot chocolate you can find in Paris. It tastes like a melted chocolate bar, an extremely rich concoction.

Chocolat Africain got its name from the Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast, a former French protectorate), origin of its cacao beans. It is, by far, the richest, darkest, and sweetest hot chocolate available in the city. It is so thick it could be poured over ice cream.

The thick, frothy beverage is served in a pitcher, accompanied by a bowl of whipped cream to complement it and a glass of ice water on the side, which seems to acknowledge you'll need a chaser to offset the richness.

Angelina is also very famous for their 'Mont Blanc' pastry which is a meringue base filled with whipped cream and sweet chestnut puree.

During my quest for the best, the Angelina's Chocolate L'African recipe from 'Hot Chocolate' by Michael Turback is by far the closest to the original.

Paris Angelina's Chocolat L'Africain (Hot Chocolate) Recipe

(adapted from Hot Chocolate by Michael Turback)

Ingredients

3/4 cup whole milk (full cream milk)

1/4 cup heavy cream (I use double cream)

1 tsp confectioners' sugar (icing sugar)

4 oz / 125 g Omanhere bittersweet chocolate, 72% (you can use any brand of bittersweet chocolate)

Whipped cream

Method

1. Combine whole milk, heavy cream and confectioners' sugar and heat over medium to high heat until bubbles appear around edges.
2. Remove from heat and add chocolate that's been chopped.
3. Stir until melted (you may need to return it to low heat).
4. Serve with whipped cream.

Parisian Hot Dog

You can't get this in Ladurée or Pierre Hermé, but this is fun and it's so uniquely Paris.

During my first trip to Paris (more than ten years ago), I noticed this gadget at a lot of street stores along the Avenue des Champs-Élysées and Montmartre:

Photo credits to http://www.aspexdesign.co.uk/

Photo credits to http://parisbreakfasts.blogspot.com/

Before I could voice out my curiosity, Mr J asked me, "Do you like to try a Parisian Hot Dog?"

Why not?

I learnt something new that day. If you see this long pointy sausage-shaped metal thingy at a street store in Paris, you know you can stop in for your hot dog fix.

It's also very easy to make them at home.

All you need are 4 ingredients and a hot dog maker:

Parisian Hot Dog Recipe

Ingredients

1 hot dog
1/2 stick French baguette
Tomato sauce (Ketchup)
Mustard (optional)

Method

1. Cook the hot dog the way you like it (steam, boil, grill or fry).
2. Insert the French baguette into the metal stick of the hot dog maker.

   

3. Squeeze tomato sauce and mustard (optional) into the hollow hole.

   

4. Now you are ready for a perfect Parisian Hot Dog.

Bon appetit!

More FOOD PORN of Parisian Hot Dog found on Google:

Sadly, I noticed there were less stores selling Parisian hot dogs during our most recent trip to Paris. It has been largely replaced by the fromage hot dog (cheesy hot dog on a French baguette):