Lemon-lime Tart

Hey there! About time to revive this space huh? Sorry for the lack of updates recently but I guess holidays are getting busier now. Anyway, after much delay, I finally managed to get back in the kitchen and start cooking!
This tangy dessert is real simple to make, especially after the tweaks I made to the original recipe. Technically, this version doesn't even require baking! So here's the original recipe, and instead of doing a traditional pastry shell, I decided to use a simpler and faster option that is a gingersnap biscuit crust. How to do it?
1. Grab a handful of gingersnaps (store-bought or homemade, your choice) (but the obvious choice is store-bought hahahaha). I used 6 biscuits for 2 12-cm tart pans.
2. Put them into a zip-lock bag, seal it and use a rolling pin to crush the biscuits into fine crumbs.
3. Melt roughly a tablespoon of butter and pour it into the crumbs so they stick together. Then press the crumbs into the tart pans, starting with the sides then base, to form your tart shell!
4. Refrigerate until your lemon-lime curd is ready. See, no baking involved!
If you want to see that in action, watch this. (well, just the biscuit base part)
The gingersnaps went really well with the curd by the way.
So when you can't decide whether to do a lemon pie or a key lime pie, why not do both? Hence resulting in the birth of an amazing lemon-lime tart. The curd is surprisingly easy to make (do not fear the double-boiling method). Double boiling is basically putting the bowl containing the curd ingredients over a simmering pot of water to allow the steam to cook the curd and not the direct heat.
But here's the tricky bit: DO NOT LET YOUR WATER BOIL otherwise the egg whites in the curd will cook, which unfortunately happened to me :( BUT, fret not, because all you need to do then, is to sieve the curd and it'll be perfect. So remember to watch the heat!
So there's really no need to bake the tart after filling the tart shells, because you just need to refrigerate them until set.
Really pleased with how they turned out! Now it's time for you to feast your eyes on these delectable tarts. You know you want some ;-)

 They already look darn good pre-set.

That is what happens to your crust when you don't crush your gingersnaps finely enough....but it's all good, you just need extra butter I guess. Which is pretty unhealthy whoops.

Hope you try this!! And before I go, congrats to all those who got their O'Level results today! No matter what, just follow your heart and don't give up! And kudos to you for making it yay!

See ya soon,

Nic



Bacon, Mushroom and Spinach Quiche

Hi there!!
We are back with another post! (Well, just one of us because Nat's having fun in Japan) (sushi!!)
Anyway, I know I said I would bake something with lemon in it the last time, but I'm saving that for later on, so I decided to bake a savoury tart this time aka a quiche!
In case you don't know what a quiche is, lemme attempt to explain haha basically it's a pastry tart with a creamy, cheesy filling and it usually has ingredients like bacon and various types of vegetables. Personally I'd prefer a quiche over other savoury pies/tarts like Shepard's pie any day.
So here's the recipe and this is my first time trying a Gordon Ramsay recipe haha so exciting right Gordon Ramsay. His recipe is actually for a rocket, mushroom and bacon quiche but I decided to replace spinach with rocket just for fun. And maybe because I'm not the biggest rocket fan around. Yeah, that's not the only thing I changed....
1. I didn't add thyme to the pastry or tarragon to the custard or red onion and chicory to the filling.
2. I also replaced the 100g of Gruyere cheese and 100g of cheddar cheese with 200g of Swiss cheese instead.
And I still think it tasted great! But yeah feel free to customise the ingredients to suit your tastebuds :)

 This is the pastry, glazed and ready for a second bake. It also had to be chilled before baking it the first time. So yeah, it requires quite a bit of work but IT WILL BE WORTH IT. Special thanks to my cousin who came back from Australia for a visit for helping me with this. Yay! We seriously thought we had screwed up the dough but it still worked out fine (thanks to my mom heh)

 I had fun cooking the spinach, mushroom and bacon haha and the filling already looks good before baking please.

It tasted really good :) not too hard/starchy, quite light actually. Texture's good. SO TRY IT. I'm quite sure I'm going to make this again, and that means something okay. To quote my mom: "Everything tastes good with bacon."

 Before I end, my brother's panna cotta makes a cameo! Panna cotta is an Italian dessert in case you haven't heard of it. It's sort of like a pudding, more more creamy and liquid-y I guess. If you're interested in making it, just search it up on Allrecipes.
Alright that's all for now, can't wait for Nat to get back! Hope you enjoyed this! :) I need to take better photographs.

Nic