Chocolate Custard Tarts

From day one after I have purchased the Bills Open Kitchen Cookbook, I was drawn to these rusty looking Chocolate Custard Tarts. They are very similar to the Portuguese Custard Tarts but the dark chocolate has added richness and depth of flavour to the tarts.

Chocolate Custard Tarts

These tarts are best eaten while they are still hot and fresh from the oven. It's like biting into a light buttery flaky pastry topped with warm chocolate mousse!

Chocolate Custard Tarts (Makes 18)

(Adapted from Bill Granger's Bills Open Kitchen)

Ingredients

• 3 egg yolks
• 55 g (1/4 cup) caster (superfine) sugar
• 2 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
• 1 tsp natural vanilla extract
• 185 ml (3/4 cup) cream
• 150 g (1 cup) dark chocolate, grated
• 2 sheets puff pastry
• icing (confectioners') sugar, for dusting

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220C (425F/Gas 7). Place the egg yolks, sugar, cornflour and vanilla into a bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the cream and 125 ml (1/2 cup) water and whisk again. Pour into a saucepan and place over a medium heat. Stir until the mixture is thick, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the chocolate and stir until melted. Leave to cool.
2. Place the sheets of puff pastry on top of each other and roll up. Cut into 1 cm (1/2 inch) wide slices and roll out into rounds 10 cm (4 inches) and diameter. Lightly grease a non-stick 6-hole and a 12-hole 125 ml (1/2 cup) muffin tin and push each round into the individual holes. Place in the freezer and chill for 10 minutes. Remove and divide the custard mixture evenly between the tart shells.
3. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until the pastry is golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tins for 10 minutes before removing. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

Cinnamon Chicken and Pine Nuts Pastries

I always count my blessings and look at the positive side of life. I must be thankful for everything positive in my life. I must look to where my life is and why it is where it is. It is amazing, whether you believe in God or not, there is an energy we dispel into the world that somehow comes back to us.

Cinnamon Chicken and Pine Nuts Pastries

Christmas is right around the corner. As I was baking these delicious pastries, I can't stop smiling and feeling so blessed.

Cinnamon Chicken and Pine Nuts Pastries

This is a great appertizer, cocktail or canapes recipe for your Christmas party.

Cinnamon Chicken and Pine Nuts Pastries

(Adapted from BBC Magazine: Rick Stein's Summer Meze)

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for brushing
• 450 g / i lb onions, finely chopped
• 600 g / 1 lb 5 oz skinless chicken breast, chopped into 1 cm pieces
• 3 tbsp pine nuts, lightly toasted
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1 1/2 tsp sumac or 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 500 g pack chilled puff pastry
• A little plain flour, for dusting

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-based frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onions and cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring now and then, until they are very sweet, soft and slightly caramelised.
2. Add the chicken to the pan and cook for 5 mins. Stir in the pine nuts, cinnamons, allspice, sumac or lemon juice and some salt and pepper, then cook for 2 mins more until most of the excess liquid has evaporated. Check the seasonings.
3. Heat oven to 200C. Roll out the pastry thinly on a lightly floured surface, then cut out 25 x 8 cm discs using a plain pastry cutter. Working with one pastry disc at a time, dampen the edge with a little water. Place a heaped tsp of the chicken mixture into the centre of the disc, then fold the sides, pinching together in three places to create a triangular shaped parcel, leaving about 1.5 cm of the filling showing in the centre. Repeat with the reamining discs. Place on baking trays lined with non-stick baking paper and brush each one lightly with olive oil. (Can now be frozen for up to a month.)
4. Bake for 20 mins until crisp and lightly golden. Serve warm.

Yorkshire Puddings

Are you still looking for a perfect side dish for the Thanksgiving dinner? Look no further. These Yorkshire Puddings might just be the one.

Yorkshire Puddings

Yorkshire pudding is a dish that originated in Yorkshire, England, and has attained wide popularity. It is made from an egg batter similar to that used in making Popover. It's most often served with roast beef, chicken, or any meal in which there is gravy.

Food historians generally agree on the American origins of the popover recipe, albeit derived from Yorkshire pudding and similar batter puddings made in England since the 17th century.

Yorkshire Puddings

Yorkshire Pudding is cooked by pouring a thin batter made from flour, eggs, milk and seasoning into a preheated greased baking tin containing very hot fat or oil and baking at very high heat until it has risen and browned. It is then served in slices or quarters, depending on the size of the tray in which it was cooked.

In recent years, it has become more popular to cook them in batches in bun tins (baked in muffin trays or baking tins like Popovers), making individual mini puddings.

Yorkshire Puddings

Traditionally, Yorkshire pudding is cooked in a large tin underneath a roasting joint of meat in order to catch the dripping fat and then cut appropriately. Yorkshire pudding may also be made in the same pan as the meat, after the meat has been cooked and moved to a serving platter, which also takes advantage of the meat fat that is left behind.

In pub cuisine, Yorkshire puddings may be offered with a multitude of fillings, with the pudding acting as a bowl.

The pudding can also be eaten as a sweet dish, with jam, golden syrup, lemon juice or sugar.

Yorkshire Puddings Recipe (Makes 12)

(Adapted from Mary Berry's Complete Cookbook)

Ingredients

• 125 g (4 oz) plain flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 250 ml milk
• A pinch of salt
• Shortening

Method

1. Sift flour and a pink of salt into a bowl. Make a well in the middle and add eggs and a little milk.
2. Whisk the milk and egg, then whisk in half of the milk, drawing in the flour to make a smooth batter. Stir in the other half of the milk. Cover and stand for at least 30 minutes.
3. Put some shortening (white vegetable fat) into each cup of a 12-hole bun or muffin tin and and heat in a preheated oven at 220C (425F) until very hot.
4. Remove the tin from the oven. Whisk the batter and pour into the cups in the tin.
5. Bake the Yorkshire puddings in the oven for 15 minutes or until well risen, golden, and crisp.
6. Serve immediately.

Curried Beef Pot Pie

This is an extremely easy pot pie recipe and yet it's full of wonderful flavours from the curry spices which makes an ideal evening meal for a lazy, chilly evening.

Curried Beef Pot Pie

Curried Beef Pot Pie Recipe

(Adapted from The Good Housekeeping Step-by-Step Cookbook)

Ingredients

• 1 pound lean boneless beef chunk, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 3 tsp olive or vegetable oil
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 tbsp curry powder
• 2 medium carrots, sliced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 beef-flavour bouillon cube or envelope
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 10 ounces frozen peas
• Ready-rolled puff pastry
• 1 egg yolk, light beaten

Method

1. Pat beef dry with paper towels. In 10-inch nonstick skillet, heat 2 tsp oil over medium-high heat; add beef and cook until browned on all sides. Stir in garlic and curry powder; cook 1 minute longer. With slotted spoon, transfer beef mixture to bowl. In same skillet, heat remaining 1 tsp oil; add carrots and onion and cook 10 minutes, or until browned.
2. Add beef, bouillon, salt, and 1 1/4 cups water; heat to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 1 hour. In cup, mix cornstarch and 1/4 cup water; gradually add to skillet. Cook over high heat, stirring until mixture thickens; boil 1 minute. Stir in peas; remove from heat.
3. Preheat oven to 220C.
4. Spoon filling into a large pie plate or 6 individual ramekins.
5. Shape the puff pastry into size that fit the pie plate or ramekins and plate the pastry onto of it.
6. Lightly brush the pastry surface with egg wash.
7. Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes or until pastry is puffed and golden brown.

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.

Mini Heart Shaped Vegemite Swirls

Mini Heart Shaped Vegemite Swirls Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 sheet frozen ready-rolled puff pastry, thawed
• Vegemite
• 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200C (425F). Place pastry onto baking paper. Spread Vegemite over pastry. (Trust me, this ain't a pretty scene :-) I scribbled I ? Oz on it to add a personal touch.)
2. Starting with the short edge near you, and using the paper to help, roll pastry around the filling like a Swiss Roll. Stop in the centre and repeat the same from the opposite edge.
3. Put the roll in the fridge covered in plastic cling wrap for 30 minutes to make it easier for cutting.
4. Cut roll into slices about 2cm (3/4 of an inch) thick.
5. Place slices with cut side up on a lightly greased oven tray. Brush with lightly beaten egg yolk all over. Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes or until pastry is golden.