Plum & Almond Frangipane Tart

Hi all, hope everyone is enjoying their holiday today, especially our Muslim friends. I want to wish them Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri! I too had a great day today, been spending some quality time with my dear family. Best of all, we went over to my mum's house for another nice gathering with lots of good food! :) Goes without saying, I baked something for desert for the family. This time I decided to make use of the stone fruits in season and baked a Plum and Almond Frangipane Tart.

Frangipane is a mixture of ground almonds, sugar, eggs and butter, baked into a soft, macaroon-like layer. In this recipe, it's incorporated into this summertime fruit tart. I got this lovely recipe again from "Essentials of Baking" from William Sonoma. The only down side was I couldn't find French prune plums(stated in recipe) which was ruby red in flesh. And thus the tart didn't turned out as pretty as I hoped it will be since I was using Californian Santa Rosa Plums which has amber colored flesh. Looked kind of pale if you ask me. ;P But on the good side, it was surprisingly sweet! *phew*

Frankly speaking, I didn't do a good job on my baking...as you can see the crust looks too" toasty" on the sides. *sigh* The mistake was while doing the pre-blind baking for the tart shell, I got a little worried that the base won't be done, so went for an additional 2 minutes. And see what that extra 2 minutes can do?! Lesson learned; Never try to be too smart and over bake your pastry shell.

Ingredients for Plum & Almond Frangipane Tart: (makes a 9 or 10" tart pan)

Ingredients for Rich Tart Pastry:

210g all purpose flour

60g confectioner's sugar

1/4 tsp salt

125g cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

2 large egg yolks

1 tbsp heavy (double) cream (I omitted this)

In a bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt together. Scatter the butter pieces into the flour mixture and knead with your finger tips or pastry knife to combine everything till it resembles bread crumbs. Add in the double egg yolks and continue to knead till to comes together to form a soft pliable dough. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

Ingredients for Filling:

170g blanched almonds

155g + 1 tbsp caster sugar (I reduced to 140g)

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract ( I omitted this)

1 large egg

60g unsalted butter, room temperature

8 ripe plums, peeled, pitted and sliced in 8 equal wedges

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 200C and grease a 9 or 10" tart pan with a removable base.
• Remove the chilled pastry dough from the fridge and lightly flour the work surface. Roll out the dough to about 12" in diameter.
• Gently transfer the rolled out dough with the help of the rolling pin on to the greased tart pan. Gently press in the pastry at the edges and scrap away any excess dough.
• Place a large aluminum enough to cover the tart over and gently press in the sides. Put some baking weight over the foil. Bake the tart shell for 13 to 15 minutes. Remove the baking weight and aluminum foil and bake for another 2 minutes to dry up the tart base. Remove from oven and let cool till needed.
• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Meanwhile, make the filling: In a food processor, process the blanch almonds and the sugar till finely ground. Add salt, vanilla extract, almond extract if using and egg. Process the mixture till well blended. Add in the softened butter and processed until smooth. .
• Using the rubber spatula, scrap the mixture into the tart shell and spread it out evenly.
• Arrange the sliced plums in 2 circular rows on top of the frangipane mixture. Sprinkle that 1 tbsp sugar if desired. I omitted this and glaze the tart with warm jam after it's been baked.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes till the frangipane is golden and set. Transfer on to cooling rack and serve at room temperature or refrigerate and serve cold.

This fruit tart may seem sophisticated or complicated to bake, but on the contrary, it's not. :) Plus both the pastry dough and frangipane filling can be made in advance prior to the day of baking. So serving this at a dinner party will surely impress your loved ones especially when it seems like effortless to bake it. You can also replace the plums with any kind of stone fruit like nectarines, peaches or even Granny Smith apples would be nice. :)

Believe or not, but the above portion was the only slice that I managed to salvage back home after the gathering. Although it was slightly on the sweeter side (filling sugar can reduce by another 15g), it still turned out delicious. The pastry shell was buttery and nice, while the filling was both nutty, sweet and creamy which went real well with the slightly tart plums. My niece liked it so much that she had 2 big slices, heehee.

Will again be submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #10: Easy As Pie ( August 2011) hosted by Janine of Not The Kitchen Sink!

Wishing everyone a good good day today, tomorrow and day after! Cheers!

Hokkien Festive Glutinous Rice

As long as I can remember, there is this special dish that is almost always served in my Hokkien Family during special occasion, or simply on a weekend when everyone is around. Whether it is on Chinese New year, Birthdays or even baby's 1st months, this dish is never left out. I practically grew up eating this. Its none other then the Hokkien Festive Glutinous Rice.

If you are a true blue Hokkien like me, I'm very sure this is not a foreign dish to you. :) Apart from the numerous delicious Hokkien dishes I know, this one is by far the most comforting and with the most nostalgic memories for me. :) The best memory I had was when my MIL was in California to help me with my first confinement. She made this Hokkien Festive Glutinous rice on my child's 1st month celebration. At that moment, being so far away from home and for so long, (plus going through post delivery blues), to be able to have a taste of this delicious rice, is like a taste of home....it was so memorable and priceless. *emotional* So at some point, I made a promise that I must learn how to make these traditional dishes so I can pass them down to my kids. :))

I have to admit my version of this wonderful dish is probably not be as good as my mum's or my MIL's. Somehow it lacks that special "kick" or something. But no worries, practice makes perfect right? And furthermore, my husband and kids enjoyed it very much during lunch...that is good enough for me. ;)) Anyway, here is my version:

Recipe for Hokkien Festive Glutinous Rice: (Serves 4 adults)

600g glutinous rice (soaked overnight)

120g shallots, peeled and sliced thinly

8 thin slices of ginger and sliced into very thin strips

150g fatty pork, sliced (I used sliced roast pork)

50g dried shrimp, soaked

50g dried Shitake mushrooms, soaked and sliced

6 tbsp vegetable oil

600 to 700ml water (this amount includes the soaking water from the dried shrimp and mushrooms)

Seasoning:

3 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tsp chicken seasoning

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 tbsp sugar

Method:

• In a frying pot, add the 6 tbsp of vegetable oil and start the heat at medium. Add the sliced shallots and fry till golden and crisp. Remove from the oil and place in bowl for later use.
• Add the sliced ginger into the same oil and fry it at medium fire till golden brown. Scoop out and leave on paper towel for later use.
• 

• In another bigger pan, add in about 2 tbsp of the oil used for frying the shallots and ginger. Add in the sliced pork and fry till slightly crisp, dish up (I skipped this step because I used roast pork). Then add in the soaked dried shrimps and dried mushrooms and fry till fragrant. Dish up.
• Drain the water away that is soaking the glutinous rice. Add the glutinous rice into the big pan and start to fry it. Add in the seasonings and half of the water. Fry it till the rice thickens, then add in more water as per needed. When the rice is almost cooked and very thick and sticky, add in the dried shrimps, mushrooms and pork in. Stir fry and mix well. Lastly add in half of the fried shallots and stir in well.
• 
• Add in the last bit of water if needed if too dry or the rice is not completely cooked. Cover and let it cook for another 3 to 5 minutes at medium low fire. Once done, dish up and pile on in a dome shape in a big bowl.
• Sprinkle on the rest of the fried shallots and ginger on top of the rice. Serve when still warm.

I simply love the sticky and chewy texture of this rice dish. And the wonderful aroma from the mushroom, dried shrimp, fried shallots and ginger works together with the glutinous rice like magic. Do remember that the fried shallots and ginger is key ingredients here. :)) BTW, My husband ever said he can eat this everyday and I believe him. ;D

Being a Hokkien and married into a Hokkien family, I feel that I should really put an effort to learn the traditional dishes from both my mother and in law. And I also urge one and all to preserve this tradition and heritage, so our future generations will get to enjoy all these wonderful food, just like us!

My younger child saw me shooting and came over requesting to take with it. Yeah...that's her thumbs up for her lunch, lol!


I am submitting this post to Heritage Food Trail hosted by Edith of Precious Moments. Thanks Edith, for hosting such a meaningful theme. :) Have you submitted yours? Well, its always a good time to find out more about our own heritage, so why not start today?

Got to go, you folks have a great day!