Fresh Fruit Tart with Pastry Cream - French Fruit Tart

This classic French Fruit Tart has a sweet pastry crust that is filled with a rich and creamy pastry cream and topped with seasonal fresh fruit. This tart is a fabulous way to use up fruit of the season. A sweet pastry dough is baked in a tart pan, filled with pastry cream and then topped with kiwi, strawberries etc., . It’s cool, creamy and packed with fruit. The perfect end to a delicious meal. This crust is prepared differently from the usual crust, in this crust I have added cream and an egg.

Ingredients

For the Pastry Cream:
2 cups Milk
4 Tablespoons granulated sugar
5 egg yolks
3 Tablespoons Corn Flour
4 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter
1 Teaspoons Vanilla essence
2 Tablespoon Heavy Cream
Pinch of salt

For the Crust:
1 Egg yolk
1 Tablespoon heavy cream
½ Teaspoon Vanilla essence
250 Grams All-purpose flour
50 Grams Powdered Sugar
¼ Teaspoon Salt
150 Grams old unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes

For the Fruit
2 kiwis, halved lengthwise, and cut into half-circles about 3/8 inch thick
2 cups Strawberries
1 cup Black Grapes
1/2 Cup Pomegranate

Method
Make the Pastry Cream:

Heat milk, add 2 tablespoons of the sugar, and the salt in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat until simmering, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar.

Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks in a bowl until thoroughly combined. Whisk in the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and whisk until the sugar has begun to dissolve and the mixture is creamy, about 15 seconds. Whisk in the cornstarch until combined and the mixture is pale yellow and thick, about 30 seconds.

When the milk reaches a full simmer, gradually pour this into the yolk mixture and continue to whisk till well combined. Return the mixture to the saucepan, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula; return to a simmer over medium heat, whisking constantly, until a few bubbles burst on the surface and the mixture is thickened and glossy, about 30 seconds. Take off the heat, whisk in the butter, heavy cream and vanilla.

Strain the pastry cream through a fine-mesh sieve keep it in a bowl. Press plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming and refrigerate until cold and set, at least 3 hours or up to 2 days.

Make the Crust: 

Whisk together the yolk, cream and vanilla in a small bowl set aside. Place the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and process briefly to combine. Scatter the butter pieces over the flour mixture; process to cut the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about fifteen 1-second pulses. With the machine running, add the egg mixture and process until the dough just comes together, about 12 seconds. Turn the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and press into a 6-inch disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 48 hours.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator (if refrigerated longer than 1 hour, let stand at room temperature until workable). Unwrap and roll out between 2 lightly floured large sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap to a round according to the size of the pan. Transfer the dough to the tart pan. Ease the dough into the pan corners and press the dough against the fluted sides of the pan. If some sections of the edge are too thin, reinforce them by folding the excess dough back on itself. Run the rolling pin over the top of the tart pan to remove the excess dough. Prick the bottom and sides of the dough all over with a fork. Set the dough-lined tart pan on a large plate and freeze for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees . Set the dough-lined tart pan on a baking sheet, press a square of foil into the frozen tart shell and over the edge, and fill with metal or ceramic pie weights or beans. Bake for 20 minutes, rotating halfway through the baking time. Remove from the oven and carefully remove the foil and weights. Continue to bake until deep golden brown, 5 to 8 minutes longer. Set the baking sheet with the tart shell on a wire rack and cool to room temperature.

Assemble the Tart:

Spread the cold pastry cream over the bottom of the tart shell, using an offset spatula or large spoon.

Arrange the kiwi slices in an overlapping circle around the inside edge of the pastry. Arrange the strawberries in rings just inside the kiwi.

Mound the grapes in. (The tart can be refrigerated, uncovered, up to 30 minutes.) Remove the outer ring of the tart pan and place the tart onto a serving platter; serve.... hmm mmm yum...

My Notes :
To make the dough you can use a hand blender too.

This quantity of Pastry cream will make 3 Tarts of 5 inch.

With this quantity of pie crust dough I made 2 Tarts size of 5 inch and one tart of size 4 inch.

Labels : Pie & Quiche, Fruits, Blogging Marathon. 

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 51

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Sausage and Potato Mash Pie

This is an easy way to dish up sausages and if you like sausages. I had about 2 cups leftover mashed potatoes so this was even more quick and easy to prepare. This is very filling and a satisfying one pot meal, a welcome change from the regular roti sabzi. I made this for our dinner. I prepared 2 individual pies. You add any veggies of your choice too.

Ingredients
2 Cups Mashed potatoes

1/4 Cup Hot Milk 

1 Tablespoon Butter - I used salted

1/4 Cup Cheese - grated

8 Chicken and Cheese Sausages

1 Spring Onion - finely chopped

1 Tomato -  finely chopped

1 Teaspoon Mixed herbs

1/2 Teaspoon Red Chilly flakes

2 Tablespoons Fresh Bread crumbs

Method
Heat oven to 180 degrees. 

Spray 2 small size glass pie plates.

Mix potatoes, milk;  butter and cheese well. Keep aside 

Meanwhile, in pan, saute the onions till translucent, then add the tomato and sausage, stir fry for  2 minutes only.  Add the seasonings mix well and leave it to cool. 

Spread cooked sausage mixture in bottom of pie plate.

Cover with potatoe mixture forming a crust.  Sprinkle little mixed herbs. chilly flakes.

A tablespoon of breadcumbs on top and bake about 25 minutes or until crust edges just begin to turn golden brown.

If you want this more cheesy then sprinkle more cheese on the top ( this is did not add). Bake again for about 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.  

Take your pie dish and enjoy eating it watching your favorite programme on television.

Labels : Chicken, Blogging Marathon, Pie & Quiche

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 51

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Sourdough Pizza Pie

After reading Varada's sourdough French loaf I wanted to try the sourdough starter. Goggled and found this site, from where I made the sourdough starter using pineapple juice. After 15 days I used this starter to make the Pizza Pie. When I made this Pizza pie and sent it for my beta, he was trilled since he loves pizza and cheese, to top it all it was made of chicken he was even more happy.

What made me happy is that I tried and succeeded in making a sourdough starter. So here goes the recipe.


Ingredients for the dough
½ Cup Sourdough starter - well fed
1.1/2 Cup Flour or may a little more
1 Teaspoon Oil
1 Teaspoon Sugar

Water if required

For the filling
1 Teaspoon Butter
1 Teaspoon Oil
1/2 Cup Chicken - cut into small pieces
1 Tablespoon Peas - boiled
1 Tablespoon Carrot - cut into pieces and boiled
1 Teaspoon All purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 Teaspoon Mixed herbs
Salt and pepper to taste.
Cheese for topping

Method for the filling

In a pan heat the butter and oil add the chicken and saute for 2 -3 minutes on medium flame, then add the peas, carrot and saute for another 2 -3 then add the flour and saute till flour is cooked.  Add the milk, stir continuously till sauce is smooth and lump free. Add all seasonings and let it cook stirring till the sauce thickens slightly. Bring down from flame and cool.

Method for the Pie:
Mix together flours, salt, and sugar.
Place dry ingredients and starter in the fridge for 30 minutes. I wanted them to be very cold. Stir starter into dry ingredients add the oil and mix until it just comes together in to a ball. Since your starter may be more or less liquid than mine, you may need to add a little ice water or slightly more flour. Use a bench scrapper to brin  the dough together  since this dough is sticky. Refrigerate dough overnight ( I kneaded the dough at 6 pm). Next day in the afternoon I rolled out dough and placed into pie pans, prick the pie with a fork and bake at 180 degrees for 10 minutes, remove and cool.

Then add the filling make a lattice pattern and again bake for 20 - 25 minutes till the crust is brown on top. 

Note:
This amount of dough makes at least two medium pie crusts.
The thickness of your sourdough starter can determine how much water or additional flour needs to be used. If you think the dough is too moist, add additional flour (a tablespoon at a time). The same, if the dough is looking dry. Add warm water (a tablespoon at a time). I did not have to add water as I had a fairly thick starter.

This is my entry for the BM #48, theme Kid's Delight - Holiday Special Recipes. Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#48.

Labels : Pie & Quiche, Breads,  Blogging Marathon, Sourdough

Italian Chicken Pot Pie

Had a small packet of chicken in the deep freezer and only 4 puff pastry sheets remaining, since there was Bechamel Sauce too in the refrigerator I decided to make this pot pie for our evening meal.  I got only two pot pies.    In this pot pie I used different type of spices, dill and steak pepper.

Earlier I used to never like the smell of dill but after using the dry dill, started to like the flavour of the same.  In this pot pie even the  steak pepper gives a very awesome.  If you do not have this do not hesitate to prepare this pie you can use pepper powder.  This was very filling and complete meal with veggies too.  We enjoyed this for our dinner.   So here goes the recipe.

Ingredients

4 Sheets Puff pastry - square sheet
1 Egg - beaten
1 Cup Chicken – cut into small pieces
½ Teaspoon Ginger- Garlic paste
½ Teaspoon Black pepper powder
1 Teaspoon Lime juice
1 Tablespoon Oil
1/2 Medium size Onion - minced
1 Tablespoon frozen Green peas,
1 Tablespoon chopped carrots- chopped in small cubes
2 Tablespoons Red, yellow and green capsicum – chopped in small cubes
Pinch  grated Nutmeg
A pinch dried Celery
A pinch dried Dill
A pinch dried Mint

 A pinch Steakpepper
A pinch White pepper powder
Salt to taste
½ Cup Bechamel Sauce
1 Cheese cube

Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Season chicken with ginger – garlic paste, lime juice, salt and pepper. Heat oil in a pan add onion and all the vegetables saute for a minute then chicken and all the spices and saute add water a little cover and cook. Check if cooked then on high flame dry all the moisture and add the béchamel sauce cheese and mix well add nutmeg and mix well. Remove from heat and cool.

Roll out the puff pastry sheet. Brush the bowl with the oil, then place the dough.  Add the filling in the centre.  Crimp the dough to fold over the side, pressing it to make it stick cover it a another piece of dough. Brush the dough with egg wash and make 3 slits in the top. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Bake until the crust is puffed and golden brown and the filling is bubbly, another 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes before serving. 

Labels: Chicken, Continental Cuisine, Bake a thon,Pie & Quiche, Italy

Bake-a-thon 2014

An InLinkz Link-up

Apple Pie

Let me tell you about my tryst with pie crust. The first attempt the apple pie tasted good but crust was soggy and filling wet. We ate the day it was made, the next day remaining went into the bin as it was wet, soggy,looking at it none of us wanted to eat. Then for Christmas I, made a quiche. The quiche filling was good but the crust was thick and hard. There was no joy in eating this, but since this time I made a very small quiche it got over in tasting. But I decided not to give up, there is a saying " Keep trying till you succeed".
So, right enough I applied this quote, made a another apple pie, but this attempt too was flop, the crust soggy and filling wet.
Then I went digging into my recipe books, found a recipe which I had written down from a television show. I tried this recipe, let me tell you that this recipe is so good that It's a keeper. The crust and the filling perfect. 
Since I, did not have brown sugar, the filling is looking cream, never mind the color what's important that, this apple pie was purr.....fect.  Do try this recipe and give me your feedback.  So here is the recipe.

Pie Filling
Ingredients
2 Medium size apples, cored, peeled & diced into 8 thick pieces
1/3 cup Brown sugar
1 Tablespoons flour
1/4 Teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 Teaspoon nutmeg
1 Tablespoons whole milk
1 Tablespoons butter

Pie Crust
Ingredients
20 Grams Powdered Sugar
240 Grams All purpose flour
100 Grams Butter ( I used amul butter so I did not add the salt)
A pinch of Salt
20 grams Shortening ( I used vanaspati ghee)
Cold water required for binding the dough ( about 2 - 4 tablespoons)

Method to make the Pie crust
 Measure out the cold water (you could even put it in the freezer for a few minutes). Sift together the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl, grate the butter and ghee and mix it with your finger tips to form bread crumbs. When the flour begins to look like bread crumbs add cold water spoon by spoon and form into a dough. Moisten all of the flour with the water, using your hand to break up large clumps of flour. The dough will be rather shaggy, but you can add another teaspoon of water, if you see that all your flour isn’t moistened. Form the dough into two disks. The disks will be rough, and hard to shape together, but once they rest in the fridge for an hour, the moisture will redistribute and they’ll be easier to roll out. Chill the dough for at least an hour in the refrigerator. At this point, the dough will keep in the fridge for up to three days, or in the freezer for up to three weeks. For freezing, roll the dough out into disks and wrap them in plastic film. This dough will be sufficient for 7 inch pie tin.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator. If necessary, allow it to sit for about 10 minutes or until it is soft enough to roll. Take the dough between two cling film ,roll the bottom crust 1/8 inch thick or less and little more in diameter of the pie crust pan. Transfer it to a pie pan. Trim the edges almost even with the edge of the pan. Cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for a minimum of 30 minutes. 

After 30 minutes preheat the oven at 180 degrees for 10 minutes. Prick the pie crust with a fork all over, and bake it for 10 mins till you see the top slightly brown. Remove and cool.

Lets start with the filling. Combine apples, sugar, flour, and spices in a large bowl. Arrange the apple mixture in the pie dish. Dot the top with the butter and drizzle with milk. Top with the second pie crust, roll the crust 1/8 inch thick or less and little more in diameter of the pan. Transfer it to a pie pan. Trim the edge almost even with the edge of the pan. Take a fork/toothpick and prick the top crust. Cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for a minimum of 10 minutes.

Remove the pie from the refrigerator and brush it with milk, bake for 50-60 minutes,  Just 15 minutes before removing from the oven sprinkle little sugar on the top to get a caramel crusty color. 

As you can see in the pics I used every bit of dough to make a design on the top. Cool and cut.     HAPPY EATING  !!!!!

This goes to the Bake a thon December 2014 event.


Labels: Pie, Apple, Vegan, Bake a thon.

Bake-a-thon 2014

An InLinkz Link-up