Tarts & Quiche

I love tarts and quiche to bits and my deepest memories of the former is when Delifrance first had it's stores in Singapore. Their very attractive fruit tarts are huge (by the standard at that time) and the fruit toppings is ever so generous.

I recently re-visit their stores and find myself no longer yearning for them as I used too. For some reason, they don't look as good as they used to be. I am not sure if my perception has changed or that their standard has indeed dropped. Could be a combination of both I guess, especially with my exposure to those made by high end hotels such as Marina Bay Sands, plus my training in culinary school.

Instead of buying them, more often than not, I baked them on my own. They are not difficult and the sweet and savoury type can share the same tart base if you want to save time from baking two versions. There are also ready baked tart shells from specialty stores which one can make big batches for parties in a jiffy.


Chocolate tart variations created for Candlenut Kitchen

Fruit tarts with chocolate mousse filling

Savoury tarts - Quiche with salad as a complete meal

I love the sweet version as desserts while the savoury ones as a quick meals served with a salad. My recent picture posting on Facebook have prompted friends asking for tarts making class and I am very happy that I have two classes lined up for this month. I am so looking forward to the fun and rewarding sessions with the participants!

For those reading this post and are keen in the workshop, the details is at:

ST Classified:
http://www.stclassifieds.sg/sell/cooking-and-baking-lessons/courses/tarts-making-class/ad-889995

and my FB:
https://www.facebook.com/lynn.lim.395?ref=tn_tnmn#!/littlebakeshop

Spaghetti in Cream Sauce with Pan-grilled Fish

I have been posting pictures of my cooking on Facebook for some time. It started out as sharing ideas with a dear colleague to encourage her to do more home cooking for her 2 young daughters rather than her frequent buying take-outs. As months passed, I got hooked on doing the series, which I called it "Tonight's  Dinner" and it became a habit to take extra effort to plate and take photo of my home cooked meals.

Last night's posting received 2 requests from friends asking me to teach them cook that particular dish. All thanks to the attractive photo as I have recently started using online photo applications such as Snapee :). This encouraged me to add on a meal section in this blog.

So friends, here is the cooking instructions as per your requests:

Spaghetti in Cream Sauce with Pan-grilled Fish

Ingredients:

- Spaghetti

- Plain Flour
- Salt

- Black Pepper

- Canola or Light Olive Oil

- Garlic, sliced

- Milk, heated

- Herbs (Thyme & Oregano)

- Sundried Tomatoes and/or cherry tomatoes, cut in small pieces or halves

- White fish or any seafood such as prawns, squid or clams

Steps:

1.  Season fish or seafood with salt, black pepper and thyme.
2.  Cook spaghetti in boiling water with added salt. Drain away hot water when done.  Rinse spaghetti under cool running water, drain and mix in some oil. Set aside.
3.  In a heavy saucepan, heat up small amount of oil and pan grilled/fry the fish or seafood. Set aside when cooked.
4. Heat up clean heavy saucepan with 2 tbsp of oil. When oil is hot, put in the sliced garlic and fry till lightly brown. Stir in 2 tbsp of flour and cook, stirring constantly, until the paste or roux cooks and bubbles a bit, but don't let it brown — about 2 minutes. Adjust heat if necessary.
5. Add 1 cup/250ml of hot milk, continuing to stir as the sauce thickens. Bring it to a boil. Add salt, pepper and oregano to taste. Lower the heat, add in the cooked spaghetti, tomatoes and cook, stirring for 2 to 3 minutes more.
6. Remove from heat and do plating. Topped with cooked fish or seafood, garnish and serve.

Note: For each serving, 2 tbsp of oil and 2 tbsp of flour per cup of milk. You may replace cooking the sauce with half cup of cream and water and thicken with starch thickener.

Birthday Cake for Myself

I had always make it a point to bake a birthday cake for each and every family member every year but never once for myself. Today, or rather yesterday, since it is now passed midnight, I decided to make an exception.

It was an extravagant tofu cheesecake, with the use of fresh berries and Chambord raspberry liqueur. Both of these two ingredients are my personal favourite, including the tofu cheesecake. What made it extra special or personalised was the liqueur. Almost 3 years back, while I was searching for different types of fruit liqueur to experiment on cakes, I found out raspberry was available and upon chancing a  picture of Chambord, I was immediately captivated by it's bottle design. Since then, I started my quest to find it at different wine and duty free shops. Whenever friends or family had a chance to travel, I would request them to help me check it out but to no avail. I finally found it at Phuket airport last year and you can never imagine how happy I was when I bought it. However, I found it too precious to open the bottle all this while, until now.

Special birthday cake for me to share with my family

My precious Chambord Raspberry Liqueur

I simply serve the cake as a after dinner dessert, no birthday song and lighting of candle as I had planned. It was not my birthday date and since I am used to bringing cake for dessert, I doubt my family suspected my intention. I was happy though, watching them enjoying the cake silently and myself, I had two servings with my elder brother. The fact that he initially rejected my offering after knowing it was a tofu cheesecake but had two servings after trying a mouthful would attest to how good the cake was!