Mini Tuna Tarts Recipes

We were hit by two snowy days last week. When it snow I like stay at home, curl up near the fireplace with a cup of hot Milo and watch TV. I’ve been watching so much TV especially the Food Channel, TLC and Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) until my head nearly go bonkers. So I decided to take a break from TV and bake something. I made these little mini tarts so we can have it for our afternoon tea.

These quick and flavorful tarts are easy to make. If you don’t feel like making the dough from scratch you can always use store bought short crust pastry or puff pastry. As for the filling, no cooking required. Just used canned tuna and a few other ingredients and you have fresh tarts with you tea. These tarts are great for entertaining too.

Ingredients:

Short crust pastry – refer to the recipe here

Filling:

2 cans of 6 oz tuna in water – drain well
1 tomato – roughly chopped
1 red chili – chopped (optional)
2 spring onions – cut small
1 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp low fat mayo
1 tsp mustard
2 tbsp ketchup
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Mix all the filling ingredients together and set it aside.
2. Roll out the dough thinly and cut out into circle using 2” or 2 ½” diameters round cookie cutter. Brush the edge with some egg, fill the center with a tsp of filling and cover the top with another piece of pastry. Seal edge with a fork.

3. Place it in a lined baking pan. With a sharp knife, cut 3 slit on top of the pie. Brush it with egg wash and bake in a pre-heated 375 degree F oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
4. Serve warm or at room temperatures.

Note: We are expecting another round of snow this evening until Wednesday. I will take some pictures and post it here.

Mushroom, Tomato and Camembert Tarts Recipes

Marcus of Ile De France sent me a sample of Camembert to try out. This mild soft and creamy cheese which has a wonderful aromatic mushrooms and nutty undertones is crafted in Normandy from local RBST free pasteurized cow milk. The herds spend most of their time outside, grazing in the fields of Normandy; known for its temperate climate and rich soil.

I made these wonderful tarts with the mushroom and tomato and pair it with the camembert. The combination of flavors is just great and this one is a real winner. Why not try this out for your coming Thanksgiving gathering or Christmas party. I am pretty sure it will be a crowd pleaser.

Ingredients for pastry

2 cups all-purpose flour
10 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 tsp of salt
6 tbsp ice water (more or less)

1. Pulse in a food processor the flour, butter, and salt just until the mixture resembles a coarse meal with some small (pea-size) butter lumps.
2. Slowly drizzle in the ice-water, one tbsp at a time. Squeeze a small handful of the dough, if it doesn’t hold together; add more ice water. Do not overwork the dough, or the crust will be tough.
3. Turn the dough out onto a work surface. Gather the all dough together and wrap it up with plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for an hour.

Ingredients for Filling

1 pound of button mushroom – wipes with a wet paper towel and slice thinly
2 shallots – sliced thinly
1 clove garlic – chopped
3 tomatoes – slice thinly
4 slices of roasted turkey - cut small
1 cup milk
3 eggs
4 oz of Camembert cheese – slice and cut into cubes
Salt and pepper to taste
Some chopped parsley for garnish

1. Heat up about 2 tbsp of olive oil in a sauté pan. Add in turkey, shallots and garlic. Sauté until fragrant and lightly brown.
2. Add in the sliced mushrooms and continue to sauté until lightly brown and the mushroom liquid evaporated. Season with some salt and pepper. Dish out and let it cool down slightly.
3. Lightly whisk eggs and milk until combined. Add in some salt and pepper to taste and set it aside.
4. Roll out the pastry and line it on the tart pans. Divide the mushroom equally among the tart shells. Top it with the cheese and slice tomatoes. Pour the custard mixture into the shells.
5. Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 35 minutes or until brown.

Stone Fruit Tarts Recipes

The last batch of peaches I bought tasted like potato. They were not juicy and tasteless. I was pretty upset with it as I bought it from Wegmans. Normally they sell the top quality produce but I am not sure what happen to this batch. I even went back to Wegmans to complaint about it and they were pretty apologetic about it. Anyway, since we won’t be eating it fresh I decided to make some tarts out of it with some leftovers plump and nectarines. If you are looking for a quick and easy dessert to serve up, this tart is for you. You may use any stone fruit for this recipe like plums, cherries, apricots, nectarines, peaches, etc.

Ingredients for the dough

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
10 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
some ice water

1. Mix the flour, salt, and sugar together in a bowl. Cut in the butter by hand or using a mixer with a paddle attachment, leaving some pea-sized chunks.
2. Sprinkle the ice water over the top by the tablespoon and toss it with the flour mixture until you can bring the dough together into a ball. 3. Press it into a disk and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Ingredients for the fruit filling

2 cups of sliced and chopped stone fruits
3 tbsp sugar (more if you like it sweeter)
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tbsp of cornstarch

1. Mix all the ingredients together and set it aside. Greased the muffin pan or tart shells.
2. Roll out the dough to about 3 mm thick and line it on a muffin pan or tart shells.
3. Put about 1 ½ tbsp of filling in it. Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 25 min until golden brown.
4. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Plum Galette/Plum Crostata Recipes

We’ve got plums coming out in abundance now. I bought a big bag of it the other day and it just cost me $1.98. I left it on the counter to ripen and they were so sweet and juice. With the leftovers I made this free-form crostata or gallette, it is the easiest way to make a pie. You don’t need a pie pan, no elaborate edge crimping, and no lattice weaving. All you have to do is roll out the dough and fold it up over the fruits of your choice. This rustic plum galette is bright, delicious and a great way to finish up all the plums that you has at home.

Ingredients for the pastry:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
10 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
some ice water

Mix the flour, salt, and sugar together in a bowl. Cut in the butter by hand or using a mixer with a paddle attachment, leaving some pea-sized chunks. Sprinkle the ice water over the top by the tablespoon and toss it with the flour mixture until you can bring the dough together into a ball. Press it into a disk and refrigerate for 30 minutes before rolling it out.

For the filling:

6 plums – core and cut into thin wedges
2 1/2 tbsp of sugar – for sprinkle
1 egg – beaten for egg wash

1. To form a galette, roll it out on a lightly floured counter into a 13” circle about 1/8 inch thick. Transfer the dough into a line baking pan.
2. Arrange the plums all around the dough leaving about 1 ½” away from the border, then sprinkle the 2 tbsp of sugar on top of the fruits.
3. Fold in the edge of the dough to cover the outer rim of the plums. Brush it with some egg wash and sprinkle the remaining ½ tbsp of sugar all over the pastry.
4. Baked in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 40 minutes or until fruit is tender and pastry golden brown. Let the galette cool on the baking pan for 10 minutes before transferring it to the cooling rack. Serve warm or cold.

Note: The amount of sugar needed depends on the tartness of the plums.

Coconut Tarts Recipes

When I moved to the USA the first thing I look for was freshly grated coconut. Since growing up in Malaysia coconut play an important part in our cuisine. We use freshly grated coconut or coconut milk in our dessert and curries. Lucky I am able to get the frozen kind from the Vietnamese and Indian grocery store here.

I have some leftover short crust pastry from my savory quiche, I decided to finish it up by making some coconut tarts. You can find this type of tart at every Chinese Bakery but making them is not difficult. The pastry of the tarts is soft and flaky while the coconut filling is moist and buttery with a slightly caramelized flavor. They are the best for afternoon tea.

Pastry:

280 gram flour
50 gram sugar
1 egg
150 gram butter, chilled and cut into cubes
2 tbsp cornstarch
½ tsp salt

Filling:

200 gram fresh grated coconut
80 gram melted butter
90 gram sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp condensed milk
1 tbsp custard powder or cornstarch

1. Sift flour and cornstarch together into a mixing bowl. Add in the sugar and salt. Mix well. Rub in the cold butter until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
2. Add in egg. Mix until the pastry begins to form large dough. Press together gently with your fingers to form the pastry into a ball.
3. Chill pastry dough for about 30 minutes.
4. In a bowl, mix all ingredients of filling. Set aside.
5. Press pastry evenly into tart mould. Trim the edges to remove excessive dough. Fill tarts with
6. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degree F oven for 30-35 minutes until lightly brown.
7. Leave the tarts in moulds for 5 minutes before turning it out onto wire rack to cool.

Note : For the pandan coconut filling just add a few drop of pandan paste to it.

Spinach Loaf Recipes

This is something very similar to my Blueberry Cream Cheese Loaf but instead of sweet I made it into savory loaf. For the filling I just used whatever I can find in my fridge. As usual I used the Pillsbury bread stick dough. I tell you, this bread dough is really handy if you want to bake something quick.

Ingredients:

1 tube of Pillsbury bread sticks dough
4 oz of frozen chopped spinach – thawed and squeeze out the water
4 slices of ham – cut into cubes
2 tbsp of light mayo
3 tbsp of light cream cheese
1 tomato – cut into small cubes
1 shallot – slice thinly
1 egg yolk
½ cup of shredded cheese – any kind
Salt and pepper to taste

Egg wash

1 egg white – beaten

1. Preheat over to 350 degree F. In a bowl combined spinach, ham, cream cheese, mayo, tomato, shallot, egg yolk, salt and pepper. Mix really well and set it aside.
2. Remove breadstick dough from the tube, unroll it and separate the dough and you will have two rectangles. Join the dough up by placing both dough rectangles horizontally on a lightly greased baking sheet. Press the steam together (refer to pix 1)
3. Spread the filling onto the centre of the dough. Sprinkle some shredded cheese on top of the filling (pix 2) Separate the dough perforations up to the cheese mixture (You might need a scissors for this) slightly pull and stretch the dough strips.
4) Start from the top and bring and braid dough strip to cover the filling. Make sure to tuck and seal both ends of the loaf (pix 3)
5) Beat the egg white and brush it all over the loaf. Sprinkle the remaining shredded cheese on top. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

(pix 1)

(pix 2)

(pix 3)

Epok Epok Sayur/Vegetable Puffs Recipes

Epok epok sayur is a curry puff lookalike but instead of meat and potatoes this it is filled with vegetables like carrot, cabbage, onions, pepper, jicama etc. The filling of this epok epok is very similar to spring roll filling. I remember eating this when I was in school but I am not sure if anyone is selling this anymore. Unlike curry puffs, epok epok sayur is usually eaten with some chili sauce. This little morsel is just delightful for afternoon tea and it is perfect with a cup of teh tarik.

Ingredients for the dough:

380 gram flour
113 grm/1 stick cold butter – cut into small cubes
1 egg - beaten
½ tsp salt
100 + ml water

Ingredients for fillings:

1 piece chicken breast – thinly sliced (omit this if you want it to be vegetarian)
1 carrot – julienned
Half red pepper – julienned
1 small onion – thinly sliced
2 cups shredded cabbage
A handful of sugar snap peas – thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic - chopped

Seasoning:

1 tbsp of oyster sauce (omit this if you want it to be vegetarian)
3 tbsp of soy sauce
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp sugar
Salt to taste

1. To prepare the filling. Heat about 2 tbsp of oil in a wok, add in garlic and onions and stir fry until fragrant and lightly brown. Add in the meat; continue to stir until the meat changes color.
2. Add in the rest of the vegetables, all the seasonings and stir until well combined. Add in a bit water and cook until the vegetable is a bit soft. Do not overcook. Taste and check seasoning.
3. Remove and let it cool.
4. For the pastry, place the flour in a large bowl, add in salt. Mix well. Put in the cold butter and with your fingers rub the butter and flour together until it resembles coarse bread crumbs.
5. Add in the egg, mix again and then add in the water. A little at a time until the dough comes together. Continue to knead until smooth. Cover and let the dough rest for 15 min.
6. Roll out the dough thinly, cut into circle, put some filling in the center and fold the pastry into half circle shape and crimp the edges.
7. Heat up some oil, deep fry in hot oil until golden brown. Drain the oil and served.

Turkey Pasties Recipes

Pasties are very popular throughout Cornwall, Devon, Wales, North East England, other parts of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Brittany. The traditional pasty is filled with beef, sliced potato, turnip and onion. The wonderful aspect about pasties is that you can use any kind of fillings from meat and potatoes to cheese and vegetables. I made these pasties with my leftover turkey from Thanksgiving. Since I have leftovers roasted potatoes and gravy I add to it too.

Pastry:

2 1/2 cup flour
1 1/4 sticks/10 tbsp cold butter (cut into bits)
1 tsp of salt
4-5 tbsp. water

1. In a food processor combine flour, butter and salt. Pulse the ingredients until well combined and slowly add water, one tablespoon at a time to form dough.
2. Remove the dough and lightly knead to form a ball. Let the dough rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Filling:
2 cups cut roast turkey
1 cup of roasted potato
½ cup of gravy
¼ cup or cut olives
½ tsp pepper

1. Combine all the filling ingredients in bowl and set it aside.
2. Divide the dough into 6-7 pieces, and roll the dough into circle on a lightly floured surface to about ¼” thick.
3. Put ¼ cup of the filling into the center of the pastry. Moisten the edges with some water, fold into half and crimp to seal.
4. Place on a lined baking sheet and brush lightly with egg wash. Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree F oven until golden brown.

Tuna Puffs Recipes

I always like to have a packet of frozen puff pastry in my freezer and it will become real handy if I want to make a quick snacks. I don’t normally cook on weekends as we will have whatever leftovers from the weekdays or I will make something simple with whatever I can find in the fridge and pantry. One of the snacks that we love is this tuna puffs. This is what you need.

Ingredients:

1 sheet of puff pastry
1 egg - beaten

Filling:

1 can of tuna
1 tomato – cut into small cubes
1 shallot – slice thinly
1 small chili – slice thinly (optional)
1 tbsp of lemon juice
3 tbsp low fat mayo
1 tsp of mustard
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degree F.
2. In a bowl, mix all the filling ingredients together. Set it aside.
3. Thaw the puff pastry. Dust the work table with some flour. Unfold the pastry and roll it out thinly and cut into 6 equal rectangle.
4. Put about a table of filling on the pastry and fold it over to close the edges. Press down the edges with a fork.
5. Brush the pastry with some egg wash and bake until golden brown.

Savory Christmas/Holiday Pie Recipes

Have no clue what to make for your New Year Party? How about making this pie? I love making savory pie and this is an easy, quiche-like pie that I prepared for our Christmas. The colorful peppers and spring onions make this pie look really festive and Christmassy. This pie can also be made into bite size appetizer using mini-tart pan. Don’t worries about making it look perfect as this pie is supposed to be rustic looking ;)

Ingredients:

Shortcrust pastry – refer to the recipe here (you can use the store bought pastry)
3 links fresh chicken sausages
½ cup grated cheddar cheese
¼ grated parmesan cheese
3 eggs
¾ cup milk
2 leeks – wash and thinly sliced
¼ chopped red pepper
¼ chopped yellow pepper
2 spring onions - cut small
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Removed sausages from it casing. Heat up a frying pan and cook the sausages until lightly brown. Add in the leeks. Continue to cook until the leeks are lightly brown. Dish out and set aside.
2. Roll out the pastry and place it on a pie dish or small tart pans. Set it aside. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degree F.
3. Combined eggs, milk together. Beat well and add in the two cheeses, salt and pepper. (go easy on the salt as the cheeses might be salty) Mix well.
4. Place the sausage and leeks into the tart shell. Pour the egg mixture into the tart shell. Top it with yellow, red peppers and spring onions.
5. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. Serve warm.

Wishing everyone a wonderful New Year! A year full with peace, joy, health and wealth.

What To Do With Leftover Turkey Recipes

Is has been a week since Thanksgiving. Each year after our meal I will stand in the kitchen staring at the piles of leftover turkey and wondering what am I going to do with it. Mmmm turkey pot pie, turkey sandwich, turkey pizza, turkey dumplings etc.. Well, here are some of the meals I prepared from the leftovers this year. I think I am tired of the taste of turkey and no more turkey for me until the next thanksgiving. Now you know why we eat turkey only once a year ;)

Turkey Pasties (recipe coming up soon)

Stuffing Meatballs - for this appetizer I used the leftover sausage stuffing. I used 2 cups of stuffing, one egg and mix everything together. Shape it into small balls and fried until golden brown. Voila!! Served with some leftover cranberry sauce.

Turkey Curry Puffs - for this I used the ready made empanadas wrappers. As for the filling you can refer to the recipe here

Turkey Rice Porridge - I cook this porridge using the turkey drumstick. I used 1/2 cup of rice, 1/2 cup of glutinous rice, 2 carrots, 1/2 cup of peanuts, one small onions. Put it in the slower cooker with few cups of water (depend on how thick you want the porridge to be) and let it cook for a few hours. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle some sesame oil before serving.

French Apple Tart Recipes

I have so many apples in my fruits compartment and they are all getting wrinkly and drying up. I have to find a quick way to use it up before it goes bad. I made this very simple French Apple Tarts using Ina Garten recipe. As usual her recipe never fails me. The crust came out perfectly flaky, buttery and delicious. I’m sure it would be equally delicious with whipped cream or some really good ice cream on top. I love the simple rustic nature of this tart, and the burned sugar on the top and edges of the crust. This is one of those recipes I'm going to keep in my arsenal for those times when I want to make a great impression without a lot of effort.

For the pastry:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks/170 grm) cold unsalted butter, diced
1/2 cup ice water

For the apples:

4 Granny Smith apples or any type of apples
1/2 cup sugar (I used 1/3 cup)
4 tablespoons cold butter - small diced (I used 2 tbsp)
1/2 cup apricot jelly or warm sieved apricot jam
2 tablespoons rum, or water

1. For the pastry, place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor Pulse for a few seconds to combine. Add the butter and pulse 10 to 12 times, until the butter is in small bits the size of peas. With the motor running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse just until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a floured board and knead quickly into a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Roll the dough to about 1/4" thick and place the dough in a tart pan. Refrigerate the dough while you prepare the apples.
3. Peel the apples and cut them in half through the stem. Remove the stems and cores with a sharp knife. Slice the apples crosswise in 1/4-inch thick slices.
4. Place overlapping slices of apples to top of the pastry until the pastry is covered with apple slices. Sprinkle with the sugar on top and dot with the butter.
5. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour or until the pastry is browned and the edges of the apples start to brown. Rotate the pan once during cooking.
6. When the tart's done, heat the apricot jelly together with rum or water and brush the apples and the pastry completely with the jelly mixture. Allow to cool and serve warm or at room temperature

Luscious Lime Bars Recipes

If you give me a choice of dessert I will always pick the one that contains lemon or lime. I love everything lemony, I love their scent, I love their color but above all, I love the sour bite to it. I strongly believe that by adding citrus juice it makes everything taste even better.

These luscious lime bars are the alternative to the traditional lemon bars and best of all you can cut it into small bite size squares and picked up and eat it with your fingers.

Ingredients for the base:

1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp melted butter

Ingredients for topping:

3 large eggs
1 egg yolk
1 cup condensed milk
2/3 cup lime juice
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 tsp of lime zest

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degree F. Line and lightly greased a 8" x 8" square baking pan with parchment paper, overhang on both side (for easy removing your bars later).
2. In a mixing bowl, combined all the base ingredients together. Press it evenly to the base of the baking pan. Bake it for 10 minutes, remove from oven and let it cool.
3. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs and condensed milk until well combined. Add in lime zest, lime juice and mix well. Lastly add in heavy cream and mix well.
4. Pour the topping over the baked base and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the center is set. Cool complete before cutting into it.