Vanilla brulee tarts with strawberry purée

A crazy amount of 21st birthdays have been approaching, and along with gifts, I like providing some sweet delights. In this case, I decided to make some tarts (I got a bit bored of making cakes). I have always wanted to make tarts, and I finally got around to it.

This recipe is by the famous Bourke St Bakery. Unfortunately, mine didn't taste as good, but I never expected them to. Furthermore, due to some time restrictions and not the greatest blow torch, I couldn't quite get the burnt sugar effect on top.

Also, lucky for me, my sister had a whole bunch of pastry left over from a previous tart she made so I didn't have to make the shortcrust pastry. But the recipe she used was   a Matt Moran, sweet shortcrust pastry as seen on MasterChef Australia: http://www.masterchef.com.au/recipes/sweet-shortcrust-pastry.htm

Vanilla brulee tarts with strawberry puree
Makes 20 (8cm tart)
**I used a large round tart pan (~23-25cm) and 5 small tart cases (8cm)

Ingredients

Vanilla Custard
720 ml of thickened cream
1 vanilla bean (or equivalent = 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste)
10 egg yolks
80g (1/3 cup) caster sugar

Strawberry Puree
250g strawberries, washed and hulled
120g caster sugar



Method:
Vanilla Custard
1. In a saucepan combine vanilla into the cream.

2. Bring to the boil over high heat, as soon as it boils remove from the heat and set aside for 10 minutes.

3. Place egg yolks in a large stainless steel bowl. Add the sugar to the egg yolks and whisk until the sugar has dissolved.

 4. Pour the slightly cooled cream through a sieve over the egg yolks (discarding the vanilla bean pod - if used, and further removing any lumps.)

5. Whisk the mixture to combine.
6. Put the stainless bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl doesn't touch the water.

7. Continue stirring the mixture with a whisk for 10-15 minutes, or until smooth and thick - continually scrape sides of bowl with rubber spatula.
**NOTE: Do not stop mixing or the mixture will curdle (i.e. the eggs begin to cook).

8. Remove the bowl from the heat and whisk briskly for about 2 minutes to cool the mixture.
9. Once the mixture is off the heart, whisk the mixture every 10 minutes for 1 hour.

10. Place plastic wrap on top of the mixture and refrigerate over night.

Strawberry puree
1. Combine strawberries and sugar into a food processor (blender and hand stick blender will do the same job) until smooth.
2.  Wrap and refrigerate until needed. 

Pastry
1. Roll out the pastry until about 3mm thick. (using flour to prevent sticking)

2. Using the rolling pin, place the pastry into the case and pinch in the sides. Cutting off any excess pastry.
3. Refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven at 190 degrees Celsius.

5. Place greaseproof paper over the top of the tarts, and fill with weighing beads (or uncooked rice)

6. Bake for 15 minutes.

7. Remove greaseproof paper and beads, and bake for another 10 minutes or until light brown.

8. Remove from oven and allow to completely cool before filling.

Assembly
1. Spoon about 3/4 teaspoon of strawberry purée into the base of the tart shell (that is for the 8cm cases, for the big tart I probably put equivalent to a few tablespoons).

2. Pipe the custard into the tart shells (this is so the strawberry purée stays in the centre). **NOTE: I just spooned the custard around the strawberry purée and put a dollop at the top, this works as well as long as your are gentle.

3. Smooth the top of the tart.

4. Refrigerate for 4 hours.

5. Sprinkle a teaspoon of caster sugar on top of the custard and burn with a blow torch until caramelised. (This step doesn't have to be done, but to get the full effect it is advised.)

Going on with the time restrictions, the custard in the big tart case didn't set as well as the custard in the small tart cases, but regardless, it was still tasty.

Good food, good times!

Marrickville Crawl

Exams are finally over and holidays begin. Inspired by the article in TimeOut Sydney titled Marrickville Cafe Crawl, my friend and I were in dire need of a catch up, and took advantage and tried to hit as many places as possible.

First stop: Cornersmith (314 Illawara Road, Marrickville)
Cornersmith was given the Local Hero Award in the Sydney Morning Herald's Good Cafe Guide 2012. It is a little cafe located down the road from the train station and is becoming one of the most talked about cafes. They provide fresh ingredients, where some are self grown in there own set up garden located in the back patio of the store.

Left: Free range poached eggs with beetroot
& ginger relish with sour dough toast.
Right:  Poached egg with pasture raised ham, fennel & brussel slaw, garlic aioli and beetroot relish 

Both the dishes were similar in terms of content. The main difference was the bread. The eggs were perfectly poached, so when you cut through them the yolk oozes out. The beetroot relish was the highlight of the dishes. It was slightly warm and filled with flavour. It accompanied my sandwich extremely well in combination with the fennel & brussel slaw. The dressing that was on the slaw contained a great balance of acidity and sweetness. The whole dish just all went well together. Just to state again, the beetroot relish was just wow!

Second stop: Coffee Alchemy (24 Addison Rd, Marrickville)
Brunch done, now for a coffee break. From Cornersmith, Coffee Alchemy is about a 15 minute walk. When walking into the store, it was very dark including the decor being all black. The windows are barred, gives this strange gaol feeling, but don't let that put you off the coffee. I am not a coffee fan, but since trying coffee at Coffee Alchemy I am finally giving it a go (and hoping I don't become caffeine dependent).

Left: Sparkler Right: Mocha

The sparkler is an ice cold coffee that is served from a beer tap. It combines the taste of coffee, with the fizz of a beer. The mocha was the first good mocha I have ever tried so I now know that good coffee does exist.

Third stop: Bourke St Bakery (2 Mitchell St)
Bourke St Bakery is famous for there tarts, but this time around we didn't try the tarts and looked for what's new and different.

Left: White bean, fennel & black olive with baby spinach
 Right: Macadamia honey caramel sticky bun

The toasted sandwich was different. The olives added the saltiness, which was counterbalanced by the white beans, which also provided the bite. A very good healthy sandwich, and suitable for all taste buds. Now to the sticky bun, that reminded me of a cinnamon scroll. It was texturally the same as a cinnamon scroll, with layers of honey instead of cinnamon. The macadamia's coated with honey caramel on top were finger-licking good.

Fourth stop: Double Roasters (199 Victoria Rd)
Thinking this was another coffee store, we were going to give it a miss. Once walking by, and realising it provides good interesting food, we sat down and were ready to order. Since we had done a lot of walking, I was in need of a drink and the pink grapefruit mineral water sounded most refreshing, and it definitely was!

Roast pork belly sandwich with apple & mint relish, rocket, aioli on toasted sourdough

Avocado and feta mash with cherry tomatoes and rocket on Turkish bread

The last dishes of our Marrickville Crawl. The pork on the sandwich had a great crackling skin, where the apple & mint relish provided the sweetness. The main down side to the sandwich was the bread used, I found it too crunchy where it almost cut my mouth.

I am not normally a fan of avocado, but the dish sounded appetising. Mixing avocado and feta created a perfect balance. I thought it would feel soft and mushy against the bread, when in fact the bread added the bite against the soft mixture. The rocket provided the bitterness, with the sweetness of the tomato. This would be perfect for a quick afternoon snack.

Good food, good times!