Lemony Tartness

Hello my lovelies~~~ I have lived up to my promise to post today! Aren't you proud of me?

Without much further ado, I'm sure you are feeling curiouser and curiouser about what we made today? So I shall jump right in to the good stuff! As my heading suggests, today we completed our lemon tartlets of which we made the lemon curd for on Friday. If you followed my last post, you will all know how crazy last Friday was... couple of us are still reeling from it today *groans* On the bright side, our chef-in-charge Chef Jeanne has once again reminded us of our awesomeness as a class which we are all mighty proud of. To date, there has been no cuts or scrapes, even with those darn metal peelers in our kits, and amazingly, we have been ahead of class every single day since day 1 I believe :) As a reward, we get to revise our theory at the end of each class which will help with our exam this coming Friday. Our first theory and practical exam! *shivers* Another reward, are the delectable fudgy-brownie-nut-and-choc-chip cookies... oh yes. Read that again, I know you want to.

If only taste-o-vision were real. Well ready or not, here come the next best thing- the pictures!!

Lemon Meringue Tartlets

Rainy Sunday~~~

Warning: This is a long post as I missed out on 4 days worth of posts so I felt it best to add a page break, so do click to read more after the jump and leave me messages or any questions you may have!

It has been a dreary wet week here in NYC to say the least~ But neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet nor hail shall keep me from baking!!! So umbrella up and rain boots on as I braved the elements to produce the following~~~

First up, Tuesday saw the making of this beautiful apricot tart.

Carrying this home on the subway saw 3 kids at a traffic light turn around and tell each other how good it looked and I could see it in their eyes that they wanted a slice... Their mother was beside them on the phone, so I thought it best not to be that creepy lady who offers young kids food by the sidewalk...

Exam Time Yaaa'll~~~

Yes it is indeed time for our very first exam~ Tomorrow brings to a close, our second week in school, a celebration of 8 busy busy days in class baking up a storm.. It also marks our first exam day, a sanitation exam to be exact... I know I know.. how exciting can that be right? Well it kinda is! Between all the boring details and terminology is plenty of horror stories and great tips on how to stay healthy when eating out, or when cooking in your own kitchen, down to the most efficient layout of a kitchen.

I'll be sure to be back and give everyone an update very soon~ just wanted to stop by to let you guys know to check back real soon for more yummy pics and tips as I make the time this weekend to do a post :)

As for now I wish you all goodnight and sweet dreams... Hope all goes well for the paper tomorrow!

xoxo

A Fruitful Day Indeed!

Pardon the pun, but it has really been a very fruitful day today~ Just in terms of sheer quantity it has more than surpassed what I would have imaged we would have accomplished in the few hours we have in class. Four individual fruit tartlets, a large poached pear and almond tart as well as baked chocolate custard puddings!

Everyday, the air in and about our kitchen is perfumed with such wondrous smells, each one topping the one before... Scent of the day today, is a toss up between the nutty almond paste and that of pears poaching in white wine infused with lemon and a full vanilla pod. Utterly Intoxicating. *pun here intended*

So... for those who have never seen a fruit tart before in their life, here's some I made earlier *one day I'll get to say that on my very own tv show or baking class*~ My beautiful little works of art~ *sigh* too bad there's no one to try them! Who wants some?

I've always love the fresh fruit tart, especially those with a custard centre. Today's tart not only has that lovely silky creme pattissiere previously mentioned, but an almond cream souffle base.

The fragrant almond cream rises and puffs to more than double its height in the oven, and gives each mouthful a slightly chewy cake-like surprise within

 We were told to follow the above design for 2 of our 4 tarts and then had free play for the remaining 2

 

 Left to my own devices I couldn't think of any designs but managed to produced these

 

 Chef Jeanne and a couple others came over and told me they liked this one best! Its my favourite too~ Too pretty to eat so its currently still sitting in the fridge!

 We then assembled and baked our french tart with poached pears and almonds, the tart shell of this was a pate brisee instead which is thinner and has a more flaky texture

 

Here are our steaming hot poached pears resting and cooling after a nice warm wine bath :) We each used a huge bottle of white wine, 2.5 lemons and one split and scrapped vanilla pod for the poaching liquid~ By simmering the fruit in this elixir, it basically replaces the liquid in the fruit with the boozy goodness of the poaching liquid.

Tip of the day time!

For all of you who have followed the post till this point, you shall be rewarded with some handy baking tips *hooray*

1. When working with tart dough, be it a sweet, tender pate sucree or a savoury, flaky pate brisee, work quickly once the flour has been added.
2. Do not overwork the dough as that develops gluten, the arch nemesis of good tart dough!
3. ALWAYS be sure to chill the dough and keep it chilled in-between steps.
4. For the perfect edges to your tart, create a lip of extra dough and chill the shell. Once ready to bake, thin out the lip to the same thickness of the rest of the shell and slice excess with a paring knife. This is known as the final trim.

Hope that you have enjoyed following my exploits so far and find the above tips useful! Do drop me a comment or message when you visit the blog, I do love receiving them! If there are any questions too, please feel free to ask in the comment box below. You do not have to have a blogger account to use it, so please please get and stay in touch.

xoxo

Long Way From Home...

Hi, my name is Tricia, and I am an addict.

Let me explain... you see, I have an intense fascination with food. Food and I, well, we have what I would call a love/hate relationship. My 5 senses are head over heels for all things yummy, however, other parts of me namely my waist, hips and extra chins do not quite share the same emotion.

My epicurious exploits have most recently brought me half way around the world from my hometown of sunny Singapore to the Big Apple. The opportunity suddenly presented itself one day and I immediately jumped at it, packed up my suitcases and got onto the earliest flight to JFK.

Think someone was not very happy about my leaving... either that or she wanted to come along

Big send off from all my loved ones back home... awww.

Ever wondered what 21 hours in an airplane's like? Well it ain't pretty that's for sure, but I survived to tell the tale and here I am coming to you live from my room on the top floor of my brownstone in Brooklyn- living the dream.

The dream being, here in New York City and attending The French Culinary Institute. First spawned 10 years ago, it was from watching Chef Jacques Torres create beautiful edible art from chocolate on his then tv show Dessert Circus that got the cogs a turnin'. Upon finding out he was a dean here at the school, it was really just a matter of time till I would get here.

It has been a surreal first week, and amazing first couple of days being in school. Orientation for me was on the 10th of May and I got to know 2 great gals who are attending the culinary program. Coincidentally Chef Jacques Pepin was holding a demo that very day on Eggs and being in the audience, I was blown away to say the least. He made everything seem effortless and his 65 years of kitchen experience showed through in each and every movement made. He churned out perfectly made poached eggs, omelet, scrambled eggs, fried eggs, egg gratin, eggs Janet (his mum's recipe), and even demonstrated how to prepare egg sous-vide.

Classes began the very next day and so far I have made a classic french apple tart, a rum infused banana cream tart as well as gingersnap cookies! Oh yes, not to forget- THE BEST TASTING PASTY CREAM OF ALL TIME. Imagine the best custard cream filling you have ever had. This was better. Just sayin'. All that in just 3 days.

Ok enough of my ramblings, enjoy the pics!

Filling tart shell with apple compote

Knife skills being tested here! Slices of apple have to be thin, and even in thickness

Arranging the apple slices on top of the filling in a fan shape

Everything tastes better with a coating of butter and a sprinkling of vanilla sugar

The final product after some time in the oven~ Finished with a light apricot glaze

The makings of a Banana Cream Tart

Gorgeous pastry cream folded into whipped cream makes for a luscious silky filling that is both creamy and light at the same time

Docked and blind baked tart shell ready for its custard centre

The folding in of the star ingredient

Practicing rosettes

I present to you, the banana cream tart. Best served cold. Yum.

Spiced Gingersnap cookie dough rolled in sugar

Getting ready for the oven

Out of the oven~ The kitchen smelled like Christmas all day!

The perfect Gingersnap. Crunchy at the edges, chewy and moist in the middle with a spicy kick.