Portuguese Tarts
This is a variation of Bill Granger‘s amazing Portuguese Custard Tart recipe….I added a bit more lemon and added sugar to the top and caramelized it…Delicious!
3 egg yolks
2 tbsp cornflour
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup cream
1/2 cup milk
2 large pieces lemon rind
2 teaspoons vanilla paste
2 sheets of puff pastry, thawed
Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
In a small saucepan whisk together egg yolks, cornflour and sugar, until well combined. Add milk, cream and lemon rind and stir well. Place mixture on the stove and cook over medium heat until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and add vanilla bean, stirring to combine. Cover with cling wrap and set aside to cool.
Place 1 sheet of puff pastry on top of the other. Roll the pastry together into a long cigar shape. Cut into 12 small discs. Place a disc, one at a time between two sheets of baking paper. Using a rolling pin roll the disc into a flat circle (about 10cm diameter). Lift off baking paper and place the round into a greased cup cake/muffin tin. Continue until tray is filled.
Remove lemon rind from custard mix, then spoon mix into prepared pastry cups and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 15 minutes before lifting them from tray and placing on a wire rack to cool completely. When cooled, sprinkle the top of tarts with caster sugar. Use a blow touch to caramelize the top of each tart (or place under hot grill until sugar caramelizes).
Caramelised Onion, Persian Feta & Roasted Kumara Tarts
These are delicious either hot or cold. Also great with caramelised leek, semi-dried tomato & Fontina cheese. Spare caramelised onion is great on homemade hamburgers or on a cheese platter.
1 small Kumara, peeled, cubed and roasted
6 large onions, sliced finely
Persian feta (South Cape)
salt & pepper
Maggie Beer’s Sour Cream Pastry
200g Chilled unsalted butter
250g Plain flour
125ml Sour Cream
Over low heat cook onions in a saucepan with some oil, salt & pepper for 1-1 ½ hours, stirring occasionally. While cooking make the pastry – pulse the butter and flour in a food processor, add the sour cream and continue to pulse until the dough starts to incorporate into a ball. Wrap in plastic film and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
Roll the pastry to 3mm thick, cut circles and place in greased muffin pan. Blind bake for 10-15 minutes until golden. Set aside.
Just before serving,preheat oven to 180 degrees, spoon onion, kumara and feta onto each pastry circle & cook in a moderate oven for approximately 10-15 minutes or until warm.
Just Wanna Cook! 