Tag: Desserts

Orange & Cardamom Custard Tart

Photo by Jun Pang

Custards are probably the first things you learn to make in trade school when it comes to sweets.

Trick here is temperature control and the best way around this is usually a double boiler.  A double boiler is a bowl above simmering water.  This allows for gentle, even heat on what ever you are cooking.  When you are making custards especially for the first time, you must use a double boiler, it is user friendly for the novice pastry cook.

I won’t lie, you might want to try this recipe a few times.  The custard has to be “totally” cooked correctly and with the correct consistency otherwise it won’t set then you can’t brulee it.  It is such a fine line between the right amount of doneness and being over cooked and coming up with scrambled eggs.

Keep stirring the custard and make sure you “never” leave it, other wise it will over cook, trust me, even the best chefs muck this one up but stick with it, try it over and over again because getting the ingredients together is easy, the hardest bit is the correct doneness and it will only be through practice that you will recognize what that is.  After that, you will be doing it with your eyes shut!

So get cracking, if first you fail, try again!!

Baked Orange and Cardamom Custard Tart

Makes about 12

720ml Cream

1tblspn Grand Marnier

5cm Piece of Ginger                          finely sliced

5 Cardamom Pod                              crushed

1 Cinnamon Stick

14 Small Egg Yolks

80gr Caster Sugar

1 Orange Zest

½ the Short Crust Pastry Recipe     previous article

 

Method

  1. Place the cream, Grand Marnier, ginger, cardamom and cinnamon sticks in a saucepan and bring to boil
  2. Once boiled, place it in jug and refrigerate
  3. Next day, reheat the cream in the sauce pan to boil, once boiled, add the orange zest and set aside for about 5 minutes
  4. After 5 minutes, strain the cream mixture
  5. Put the egg yolks in a large mix bowl and whisk together then add the sugar and whisk until combined thoroughly
  6. Pour the cream mix into the egg mix and whisk through
  7. Put a pot of water on to simmer large enough to hold ¾ of the bowl on top of the pot
  8. Place the bowl on top of the pot and using a temperature resistant rubber spatula, mix the egg and cream mixture
  9. Cook on this double boiler for about 12-15 minutes or until the mixture is thick, with no lumps.  Use the spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl.  Do not at any time allow the bowl to touch the water, it will over cook the egg

10. Remove from the heat once you have the correct thickness and whisk for a couple of minutes to cool (over ice water if necessary)

11. Refrigerate over night

12. Place the custard into a piping bag

13. Pipe into the tart shells

14. Sprinkle evenly with caster sugar then brule with a torch gun until golden

Apple Tart Tatin

Photo by Jun Pang

Two simple things I love, warm apple pies and warm apple tart tatins, both served with vanilla ice cream.

I grew up eating Granny Smith apples straight from a tree my mate’s dad grew.  I love the tartness of these apples, the crunch and the floury texture on the inside.  I remember eating them right to the core.

Continue reading “Apple Tart Tatin”

Chocolate Fondant

Photo by Jun Pang

When I was in Oxford, England I worked in a restaurant run and owned by Raymond Blanc, great French born chef cooking traditional French cuisine in England.  I learnt a lot at this place.  It taught me to be calm under pressure (eventually).  It taught me that to survive in such a high pressure kitchen, you must be organised, determined, resilient  and passionate.  The culture in this kitchen was nothing I had ever been a part of before or now.  It was an intense little place with such huge turn over of numbers on a daily basis, the pressure for perfection and the pressure of not letting your chef down or your team mates was huge.  The camaraderie was also amazing.  We were a tight team that seemed to function like a well oiled machine and with very little words being said to each other.  We worked hard together and played hard together.  I learnt so much about my trade in Oxford, about my self and of course, cooking.

Continue reading “Chocolate Fondant”