Friday, July 31, 2009

Day 212 - Guest Photographer makes tarts

Guest Photographer had a day off today and decided to make strawberry tarts. I was impressed. They look great and taste terrific. I had to include a series to document the process.











4 comments:

  1. This looks mouthwatering - are you passing on the recipe? I love the whole series.
    Thanks for all your comments

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  2. Susan, thankYOU for YOUR comments. Always lovely to find people dropping by and commenting.
    Guest photographer, true to his generation, resourcefully googled every part of the process - the custard, the glaze - all except for the pastry which he got from Mystery Person. I'll ask him about the recipes.

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  3. Tarts:

    300 g (2 cups) plain flour
    110 g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
    100g unsalted butter, cold and cubed
    2 egg yolks

    Place the flour and sugar in a food processor, and while on add the cubed cold butter until the flour mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolks and 1 tablespoon of iced water till the dough comes together. Take out and form into a ball. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for 1/2 hour. Roll out pastry between 2 sheets of baking paper to 5mm thick. Using a 7cm-round cutter (I used a mug), cut 24 circles from pastry. Put into pan or moulds. Bake for 15 minutes or until light golden. Allow to cool.

    Creme Patisserie:

    1 1/4 cups (300 ml) milk
    1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
    3 large egg yolks
    1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar
    1/8 cup (20 grams) all-purpose flour
    2 tablespoons (20 grams) cornstarch (corn flour)
    3/4 tablespoon (10 ml) liqueur (I used brandy)

    In a medium-sized stainless steel bowl, mix the sugar and egg yolks together with a wooden spoon. (Never let the mixture sit too long or you will get pieces of egg forming.) Sift the flour and cornstarch (corn flour) together and then add to the egg mixture, mixing until you get a smooth paste. Set aside.

    Meanwhile, in a saucepan combine the milk and split vanilla bean on medium heat until boiling. (The milk will foam up to the top of pan when done, so watch carefully.) Remove from heat and add slowly to egg mixture, whisking constantly to prevent curdling. (If you get a few pieces of egg (curdling) in the mixture, pour through a strainer.) Remove vanilla bean, scrape out seeds, and add the seeds to the egg mixture. (The vanilla bean can be dried and placed in your sugar bowl to give the sugar a vanilla flavor. This sugar can then be used in baking where you would like a vanilla-flavored sugar, e.g. pies, cakes, cookies.)

    Place the egg mixture back into a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until boiling, whisking constantly. When it boils, whisk mixture constantly for another 30 - 60 seconds until it becomes very thick and it is hard to stir.

    Remove from heat and immediately whisk in the liqueur (if using). Pour into a clean bowl and immediately cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a crust from forming. Cool. If not using right away refrigerate until needed, up to 3 days. Beat before using to get rid of any lumps that may have formed.

    Glaze:

    1/2 cup (125 grams) redcurrant jelly
    1 tablespoon brandy

    Gently whisk 1/2 cup (125 grams) of red currant jelly and brandy over medium heat until melted. Let cool slightly and then lightly glaze the fruit using a pastry brush.

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    Creme goes into tarts, strawberries go on top and glaze is brushed onto that. Tart recipe adapted from http://www.foodbyjessica.com.au/2007/05/this-weeks-recipe-lemon-tart.html and http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/b/betterhomesgardens/6082/white-chocolate-tarts. Creme and glaze from http://www.joyofbaking.com/FruitTart.html

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  4. Thank you Sasha! what an obliging guest photographer!

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