An earlier post, entitled kitchen basics: shortcrust pastry (click on the link) details the method behind using shortcrust pastry to cook a range of relatively easy to prepare dishes. Lately it seems I am again in a phase of cooking quiche & flans & tarts of all descriptions. A pastry case is perfect when there's, say, only one capsicum or the last of the mushrooms or a little cheese left in the fridge, perhaps some pears that need using in the fruit bowl, or maybe there's glut of figs now that the tree in the garden is in season. Even left over roast veges or chicken from the night before can be used to create a delicious tart for lunch the next day.
I've developed a few combinations that have become favourites over the years, signatures even, but combinations really are endless in variety. What I love is the moment a fresh pastry comes out of the oven, soft yet brittle, a new creation melted together, ingredients caramelised or covered in an egg custard that has risen in the oven. The alchemy of ingredients which, when brought together, is always a wonder to behold. Mainly, I just love a good tart.
For the purposes of reference then, this is an opportunity to catalogue some of these tarts & quiche combinations. For my cooking classes, below are a few pointers to set tart aside from quiche, but below is mainly about a series of pictures & dish descriptions only which, over time, will be added to.
1) the tart: a blind baked pastry case, ingredients prepared appropriately (perhaps cut perhaps not, perhaps cooked perhaps not) & fitted inside, then finished in the oven. I like to add something that will melt or loosen in such a way that everything will hold together. A jam or jelly for sweet combinations has the added bonus of acting also as a glaze; a cheese for savoury will melt some, colouring even, & keep everything in place.
2) the quiche: as above re ingredients, but with an egg/cream mix poured over, a baked egg custard that will cook in the oven. This egg/cream mix is known as royale & can be sweetened or seasoned for a savoury dish. It is poured into the pastry case to about 1/3, as it will rise & roughly double in volume while cooking in the oven (you don't want overflow!)
I've developed a few combinations that have become favourites over the years, signatures even, but combinations really are endless in variety. What I love is the moment a fresh pastry comes out of the oven, soft yet brittle, a new creation melted together, ingredients caramelised or covered in an egg custard that has risen in the oven. The alchemy of ingredients which, when brought together, is always a wonder to behold. Mainly, I just love a good tart.
For the purposes of reference then, this is an opportunity to catalogue some of these tarts & quiche combinations. For my cooking classes, below are a few pointers to set tart aside from quiche, but below is mainly about a series of pictures & dish descriptions only which, over time, will be added to.
1) the tart: a blind baked pastry case, ingredients prepared appropriately (perhaps cut perhaps not, perhaps cooked perhaps not) & fitted inside, then finished in the oven. I like to add something that will melt or loosen in such a way that everything will hold together. A jam or jelly for sweet combinations has the added bonus of acting also as a glaze; a cheese for savoury will melt some, colouring even, & keep everything in place.
2) the quiche: as above re ingredients, but with an egg/cream mix poured over, a baked egg custard that will cook in the oven. This egg/cream mix is known as royale & can be sweetened or seasoned for a savoury dish. It is poured into the pastry case to about 1/3, as it will rise & roughly double in volume while cooking in the oven (you don't want overflow!)
recipe: royale mix
6 eggs/1 litre cream
salt/pepper/cayenne pepper a pinch of each
beaten together & stored in the fridge for up to 3 days.
roast beetroot & pumpkin, black pepper & herb baked egg custard
fig & parma ham, goats cheese, fresh thyme, quince paste
crabapple jelly & pear, blue cheese & walnut
blackberry jam & camembert, figs, thyme, bayonne ham
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