Portuguese Tarts

I make these a lot, I make them in mini tart size, and man size.  We all love them, and it's a great way of using left over bits of eggs that I have from other things.  This morning I made raspberry friands, which used 4 egg whites.  So this time, I used the 4 left over yolks to make the custard.  They are pretty forgiving when it comes to messing around with quantities.  I wouldn't be using all egg whites and no yolks, but sometimes I will use 2 whole eggs, instead of 3 egg yolks.  I did put a wee bit more milk in this morning (about 20 grams).

Ingredients
For the custard -
3 egg yolks
2 tablespoons of corn flour
1 tsp vanilla
400 mls of milk (you can also use a combination of milk and cream, but my cream was whiffy this morning, so it went in the bin instead of in the custard.
80 g of sugar (regular or caster, either is fine).

For the pastry - I used three sheets of puff pastry, and then did some cheese tarts with the left over bits.

Put all the custard ingredients into the thermomix, cook at 90 degrees for 8 minutes on speed 3.  It is absolutely fine to cook this on the stove, it's just that it's so super easy in the thermomix, I never bother anymore.  I like cooking, but I'm not really all about being hands on with processes like this.  I'm perfectly content for the thermo to be working on the custard while I move on to the next task.  And sometimes that task is to sit down and play Crossy Road for 8 minutes.

In the meantime, cut circles out of your pastry and push them into a medium sized muffin tin.  I use the pie top cutter from my pie maker.

When the pastry is done, apparently you should let it cool completely before spooning it into the pastry shells you've made.  I don't do this, it cools for maybe 5 minutes while I wash up, then into the pastry and into the oven.  This disregard for proper process usually works out fine for me.

Cook tarts for 20 - 25 minutes at 180 degrees.

Cool on a wire rack.  They come out of the oven all puffed up, then the pastry gently sinks back into the shell. 

Kofta Meatballs in Curry Sauce

Since buying the thermomix, I did what most new owners do, and I enthusiastically put it through its paces.  Starting with the Everyday Cookbook.  I cooked right through that book, and there were good things, and there were less good things.  No really bad dishes, but some were a little lacklustre, a bit - boring.  Pedestrian.  They were fast and they were adequate, but not amazing.

So I branched out, and hunted through pinterest for recipes and ideas, and there are plenty of those, and some of them are genuinely amazing.  But I got bored.  Doing the same thing over and over is kind of a problem for me.  So now, I'm back to my old copies of Delicious Magazine, and converting those to thermomix, or just cooking them sometimes.  My interest in cooking has picked up again.  I'm not bored.  But maybe now I have something to add to the body of work on cooking with thermomix.

Last nights efforts:  Lamb Kofta Meatballs in Curry Sauce


Except I used pork and veal mince instead of lamb, because I couldn't get lamb, and I prefer pork anyway.

Ingredients

500g mince
1 brown onion
2 garlic cloves
2 whitebread crusts
1/4 cup coriander leaves
1/4 cup mint leaves
1/3 cup korma curry paste (I used tikka paste that I made in the thermo, because that was what I had)
1 tbsp of grated ginger
400g can tomatos
400ml can coconut milk
1 cucumber finely chopped
3 tbsp natural yoghurt
1/4 tsp cumin

In thermo, chop bread crusts to make crumbs (about 10 seconds, speed 8)
Add onion, garlic and herbs for 8 seconds speed 6, check and then pulse a few times to get it chopped fine.
Mix bread mix with mince, then roll into balls.
Cook meatballs for 4 or 5 minutes in a frying pan, they won't be cooked through, but set aside.
Add curry past to frypan, with grated ginger and fry for 2 minutes.
Add tomatoes and coconut milk and simmer for 5 minutes
Add meatballs and cook for a further 10 minutes, the sauce will reduce and the meatballs finish cooking.

While it is all simmering together, cook some rice, and some papadums.

I've never cooked papadums before, I don't like frying stuff, it's messy, and I don't like the way oil smells, but I don't like papadums in the microwave, so I thought I'd give it a go.  Some tips, don't be stingy with the oil.  You need at least a centimetre and a half in your pan, any less, and it really doesn't work properly.  Heat the oil, and test by dropping in a piece of pappadum.  If it cooks straight away the oil is hot enough.  When I did mine, I held onto the raw papadum with tongs, then gently, but quickly slid it into the oil so it was fully submerged.  The papadum should puff up and get bigger, it's like magic, and takes less than 10 seconds, amazing.  Pull it out of the oil (tongs, not fingers), and let the oil run off it, then put it on absorbent paper.

Serve it all with the chopped cucumber mixed through yoghurt, sprinkled with cumin on the side.

It's truly fabulous.