Plum Melba Tart

After discovering the awesome tart base when I made the Lemon Meringue Tart at the beginning of the year, then I always wanted to revisit this tart base recipe!!! I reckon tart is only good for a large group of people because of the amount of butter you use in the base you instantly know that it's a fatty treat!!! Plus the tart tin I've got is pretty big, and it's only good when you have a dinner party. Although I do have a small 10cm one, but the effort of making a tart base, then making the filling is a bit too much for a 10cm tart! =P

So this 9 people dinner party during Easter is perfect for a dessert tart! For the tart base, refer to Lemon Meringue Tart...

Ingredients:

4 ripe plums, peeled, halved, stones removed

200ml thin cream

1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped

2 eggs, plus 1 extra yolk

1/4cup caster sugar

125g raspberries

2tbs flaked almonds

1) Preheat the oven to 190C, bake the tart base with pastry weight for 10min, then remove the weights and bake for a further 5min until pale golden and dry. Remove from oven.

2) Reduce oven heat to 170C. Heat the cream and vanilla pod and seeds in a saucepan over medium heat until just below boiling point. Gently whisk the eggs, extra yolk and sugar together in a bowl, then whisk the warm cream into the egg mixture, discarding the vanilla pod.

3) Place the plum halves, cut-side down in the tart case. Scatter with half the raspberries, then pour over the cream mixture. Bake in the oven for 35-40min until the custard is set. Cool slightly, then dust with icing sugar and serve scattered with the almonds and remaining raspberries.

This recipe was from a recent purchase of 'More Please'... it was some great recipes in there and fantastic photography!!!! I have a habit of tagging the book with tabs when I get a new one!!! And now this book has heaps of tags hanging off the side of the book waiting for me to adventure through!!!

Chinese Roast Pork

I'm still trying to catch up on my posts... and yes... I'm still on Easter!

This year I'm having a relatively quiet easter in Sydney, which is very unusual, even my mum found it weird!!! A couple of weeks before Easter, my mum asked me whether she needs to take care Mochi for us during the Easter break and I said 'no'... and she was shocked and questioned again... 'No?!?!?!?' Usually when we have a long weekend, we'd either go away for a short interstate or drive away trip or have house parties at different people's places. But this year nothing was really organised besides a dinner party and a small breakfast gathering both at my place.

For the 9 people dinner party, I actually made quite a few things, but only managed to take photo of the Roast Pork and the dessert! I've made smoked salmon arancini (this is actually the third time I've made this, but I still not managed to take one single photo of it!!!! arrrgghhhhh....), carrot dip + avocado dip with pita bread, lemongrass chicken skewer, and the chinese roast pork! And thanks to Carol for preparing a salad for me!

Personally I don't really like the Chinese roast pork you get from the shop, because I found them too salty!!!! But one day I came across this recipe (here is the English translation of the recipe!!)that seems so easy to make, so I thought I'd give it a go, since hubby loves the Chinese Roast Pork!

After the first bite... I went... 'Wowwwww'.... the skin was soooo crispy, and the meat was still slightly warm and not too salty - you can just taste a hint of the salt which I like!!!! The meat was soft and tender, and you couldn't really taste the oily fat in the meat, I guess it was all drained out from the boiling and roasting process! It tasted awesome!! I was so effortless, just preparation work is needed the night before! I'll definitely make this again!!!

=)

Whoopie Pie

Easter?!?!?! It seems so far away, although we had a 5 days long weekend but I'm actually ready for my next long weekend already! This whoopie pie was done a long time ago, back during easter time, when it's the time for guilt-free chocolate indulgence! Well... an excuse to dose up on sugar to be more exact!

Personally I don't really like easter eggs... I found them a bit boring, and the cream eggs are too sweet, so I had to find substitute so I could boost up my sugar level just like everyone else! I made rocky road last year for easter, so I have to find something different to make this year! Whoopie pie was the first thing that came to my mind! I first saw that on other people's blog, and it seems like this is the new sugar trend after cake pop!

Makes 12

Ingredients:

For the cake,

125g butter, at room temperature

1 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1.25 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp sea salt

2 cups plain flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1/3 cup chocolate chips

1 cup butter milk

For the marshmallow filling:

125g marshmallows

2 tsp water

1) Preheat oven to 280C. Cream together the butter and brown sugar using an electric mixer and add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until light and creamy. In a separate bowl, whisk together the baking soda, salt, flour and cocoa. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 3 parts, alternating with buttermilk, and combining well after each addition. Finally stir in the chocolate chips.

2) Place a dollops of batter onto baking paper, making sure that there are enough space for it to spread. Bake until tops are puffed and cakes spring back when touched - about 12 min. Remove from oven and cool completely before filling.

3) Pair up cakes that are similar in sizes. In a microwave proof bowl, melt marshmallows and water on high heat for 20 second burst (needs a total of 40 sec). The filling will be soft and spreadable. Don't sandwich them together straight away, otherwise it will slide off. Wait for 5-10 min before placing a top on.

I only used up half of the marshmallow filling, because I don't like mine too sweet! So if you're like me, feel free to halve your marshmallow filling ingredients!

This recipe is from the Not Quite Nigella website which is one of my absolute favourite food blogs!!

Honey Glazed Duck Breast

In terms of meat, chicken probably dominates the most of my diet because it's such an easy meat to cook, and so versatile - bake, grill, pan-fried, stir-fry, roast, poach.... the method goes on! But I guess every now and then, we all need something random to spice up our lives! A while ago, a friend of mine gave me a little thick Marie Claire cookbook called 'Spicy' which has a lot of recipes in there that uses different kind of spices! And I found this honeyed duck breast recipe in there that is soooo easy to make and I couldn't resist not to make it!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4x duck breasts

1 tsp Chinese five spice

1 tsp salt

1) Preheat oven to 200C. Score the skin of the duck breasts in a crisscross pattern and rub the five-spice powder into the skin along with the salt.

2) Drizzle honey over the duck breasts and roast for 15 min. Allow to rest for 1 minute covered with foil.

Two simple steps, how easy is that??? I served mine with some pearl couscous which I thought was a pretty good combination. You can always choose rice, mashed pumpkin or sweet potato would be nice too!!!

Dinner is ready in less than 30 min!!! How good is that???