Passionfruit curd meringue tartlets

Oh hello!

It just felt like yesterday when I realized that its soon to be the second half of the year, and now its almost the end of July ? I must have been lagging too much with the whole blog thing. I have not baked anything for a while now except for the red velvet cake a few days ago, just cause I wanted to eat a red velvet. My cake cravings are not at all consistent. If not, most of the time, I dont crave for any cake. I probably would just want to eat a dollop of cream, just at it is. HAHA Oh great, now I need to start all the sentences with I I.. and I . Alright, what have YOU been craving lately?

Because I havent been baking much, these are made a couple of months ago (probably in May, not too long ago eh?)

Passionfruit meringue tartlets. Similar to the lemon meringue tart, the filling was a passionfruit curd and the base was a digestive biscuit base (of which are little left overs from a cheesecake (Oh boy, I havent put up the recipe, have I?) If youre thinking if the curd was the same as the verrine I posted up not too long ago, yes it is the same.

Initially when I made the cheesecake, I wanted to make a small 7 square and some 2 1/4 inch tart shells. So I lined up all the bases, when I made the cheesecake filling, I had just enough to fill the 7. So I thought ok, maybe lets do a passionfruit curd with some meringue on top? After filling up the passionfruit curd into the tart shells, I had leftover, which I then used it to make the verrine. SO, if I did make more of the cheesecake filling, you wouldnt see these 2 extra desserts on this blog.

Using digestive biscuits as tart bases are probably not such a good idea, unless the biscuit is very fine or you use more melted butter. Otherwise it crumbles easily. But a Pte sucre would work just as great too, if not even better!

Passionfruit Meringue Tartlets

Digestive Base

200g Digestive biscuit
80g melted butter
pinch of salt
pinch of cinnamon

Passionfruit curd

2 eggs
1 egg yolk
75g caster sugar
1 tbsp corn flour, dissolved in 1.5 tbsp water
1/2 cup passionfruit pulp (from 3-4 passionfruits)
60g butter, chilled, diced

Meringue

(Im so sorry to say this but I just whipped egg whites and added enough sugar till it looks glossy, so no recipe)

Method.

1. Crush and ground digestive biscuits. Add melted butter, salt and cinnamon and stir till biscuit is coated with butter. Scoop a few tbsp of biscuit onto tart shells, press flat with thumb and all the way to the sides. Put in the refrigerator to chill it.

2. Make Passionfruit curd. Put everything except butter in a small pot. Cook over low heat and stir with a whisk constantly to prevent burns. Once it thickens and starts to bubble, cook for another minute. Remove from heat and add in butter, stir till butter has melted. The curd will look glossy. Pour into the chilled tart shells and let it chill for 1 hour or till ready to serve.

3. Make meringue. Fill into a piping bag, snip the tip off. Pipe on top of the curd and use a bl! ow torch to add some magic. Serve immediately

See what I meant by the base?? Next time Im definitely going to make a different base of this tart. :)


Day 10 - 3rd Day in Paris - Notre Dame & the Lourve

The famous hunchback Notre Dame Cathedral Church. Summer time is apparently full of visitors and you are bound to queue a long queue for an entrance.
Some of the photos we took at this church.Our lunch at a typical cafe of Paris.A s you eat & drink you see people passing by .... what a sight.The L'Annexe cafe.
It was time to enter the Lourve Pyramid, long queue but moving .....

You have to pay 20 Euro dollar for an entry.
Crowded & crowded..... everywhere. I just wonder are there so many lovers of arts or history. Definitely not me.So many people taking photo of Mona Lisa ... it is just like a size of a stamp on a wall from here....I think most of the visitors just came for this drawing.....the rest looks the same.At a shopping street of Paris.A concrete table tennis table at a public park even the net is of steel. Great idea indeed.
After a long day of sight seeing we were tired and wanted to rest our limbs as soon as possible. Immediately upon reaching Montmartre we hopped into this fast food outlet for dinner.

From our hostel room we appreciated the beauty of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart Church sitting at the highest point in Paris with the sun setting off at nearly 10pm in the night, what an amazing experience!!
Of course with a bottle of wine and some tit bits.... Goodnite......

A New Attempt and Rediscovery

Unknowingly, Id spent more than 3 hours in the kitchen that late Saturday afternoon preparing dinner while listening to the limited, repetitive coverage of the Bersih rally on Channel NewsAsia. My menu was a progressive build, which started from my purchase of a bottle of white truffle oil (that made up a third of the dinners cost) at noon. The rest of the ingredients were picked up at a hypermarket, mindfully and economically, as to not exceed my personal budget (truffle oil included) comparable to a main course at most starred restaurants in town and yet, are able to be used to create dishes that are much more interesting than most weekday dinners of stir-fried leftovers from the refrigerator with soy sauce, dark or light.

Cream of Carrot, Dried Shrimps and Pumpkin with Truffle Oil

I have been using a lot of carrots and pumpkins for my regimented weekday dinners. Apart from being a rich source of vitamin A, I begin to discover the immense natural sweetness of these two ingredients and have been planning to create a dish to just showcase this character, hence the cream of carrot and pumpkin. I used a stock of sun-dried local anchovies and pork bones, which were simmered for almost an hour. Its an easy starter to prepare just pureeing the softened mirepoix of carrots, onions, garlic and pumpkin with toasted dried shrimps and stock. No cream of any kind was used. I topped the dish with a crack of black pepper and a drizzle of truffle oil. I should have omitted the latter as its scent was overshadowed by the pungency of the dried shrimps. The sweetness of the cream was expectedly intense. The dried shrimps gave the starter an Asian twist, which I thought was interesting. This was served with slices of dark rye sourdough.

Spread of Spinach and Anchovies

The chilled spread of spinach and Spanish anchovies in a yoghurt/chilli powder dressing, believe it or not, was supposedly a two-dish of palak paneer and fish/vegetable curry! Id decided to scrap the idea of preparing two dishes as it was laborious and of course, more expensive. I toyed with the idea of canaps for the spread as well, but ended up conveniently smacking a thick layer of the green paste on the sourdough. I thought the combination of savouriness of the anchovies, sourness of the yoghurt and tinge of heat from the chilli powder worked well with the bland, finely chopped spinach. The remaining spread was sandwiched between multi-grain toasts for breakfast on Monday.

Angel Hair Carbonara, Truffle Oil, Assorted Mushrooms in Balsamic/Muscovado Reduction

One of the reasons why I bought the bottle of truffle oil is to improve my carbonara recipe. Previously, Id used truffle salsa and the scent was consistently mild, despite my pouring of almost half a bottle to approximately half a pack of spaghetti. Perhaps I should have made some truffle butter for the mix but I guess Im just too lazy for that. So, this time, with three raw eggs, a pack of grated parmesan cheese, some truffle oil and another generous pouring of truffle oil to every individual serving, the scent was much more prevalent. Instead of the usual bacon strips, Id incorporated a medley of mushrooms (white, porcini and portobello) into the carbonara mixture. The sliced mushrooms were flavoured with a reduction of balsamic vinegar and a dash of muscovado for a sweet contrast against the rich carbonara sauce.

Not every dish that I make turned out edible like any of the above, I must note. And embarrassingly, I still havent been able to grasp the fundamentals of cooking! plain w hite rice. Desserts? Im definitely a goner. In my last attempt at something sweet, Id wasted a few eggs, cubes of cheddar, sugar, dried longan flesh, beancurd skin and some wolfberries. Among other memorable sweet failures include a carrot cake that ended up dark brown lumps of carrot shreds, crushed walnuts and pineapple cubes that resemble...I shall not elaborate further. I did consider restarting with simpler desserts like a trifle or crepe. But Im not really interested in either, so why waste time and effort constructing such dishes, right? Id decided that I should just stick to what I enjoy making the most savouries. :D


Tate @ Intermark

Returning to Tate, this time to test how many cocktails two people can consume after having finished two bottles of wine elsewhere that night.
Earlier entry on Tate: June 30.

The time stamp for this photo reveals that we began at two minutes past midnight with this Ginger Smash, a heady brew comprising sagatiba pura, luxardo maraschino cherry liquor, sour apple, ginger juice, sugar, fresh lime & pineapple.

Time seemed to speed up, slow down, then speed up again as we spoke of love, life and other mysteries while nursing a beautiful Pomegranate Margarita (don julio reposado, cointreau, pomegranate juice, lime juice, pomegranate, fresh lime).

A Charlie Chaplin movie unfolded silently on the screen of our booth while we nursed this Pimm's Fizz (pimm's No. 1, chartreuse, lime juice, egg white).

The Elder Black (ketel one, st germain elderflower liquor, blackberry puree, lemon juice, mint). Tate's priciest cocktail, at RM52++. But worth its weight in intoxication.

Provencal (tanqueray No. 10, martini extra dry, cointreau, orange twist). Our final sip, at two-thirty. A few more cocktails would have been nice, but everyone else was leaving the bar by then, and it seemed wrong to keep the service team trapped here.

The best trail mix EVER! We must have had five complimentary servings of this (many thanks to the staff for continuously replenishing our plates).

Tate,
Ground Floor, The Intermark,
Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-2161-2367

Ramadan Buffet 2011 Santapan Buffet Delights @ Latest Recipe, Le Meridien KL

The bountiful buffet spread at Latest Recipe keep patrons coming back yearly. Consistent cuisine quality & decorations resembling a bustling night bazaar allows one to enjoy hearty traditional delights & international fare in true muhibbah spirit.

says the press release as provided by Le Meridien.

I certainly concur on the bountiful spread. After all; key selling points of buffets are value-for-money, sheer variety and the freedom of choice in addition to the copious amount of food you may partake for the hours you are present at the venue.

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For a 3-digit priced Ramadan Buffet (so far I have sampled Dorsett KL & Maytower Hotel where each are priced at <RM80/pax), Latest Recipe does deliver the works.

Theres the requisiteroasted lamb for starters; which to me its a must for Ramadan buffets!!

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Still, I opined that the lamb could do with better or longer marination as I found it to be rather bland. Well, at the very least, that could be fixed with some mint sauce. The rice suffered the same fate; not lacking in colour obviously, but in taste & aroma.

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< p>Theperennial lux items like freshoysters, seafood & Jap sashimi made their appearance of course. I had expected nothing less than stellar quality seafood & I wasnt disapppointed.

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The Japanese favourites of freshly made california rolls, sushi & makis were plentiful to please the dining crowd.

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Zooming in on the sashimi, I gleefully heaped my plate with cuts of butterfish, salmon & tuna!

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As expected the Japanese live station was the most popular among diners.
There was a perpetual queue for the teppanyaki station, where you can opt for beef, chicken, scallops or prawns to be cooked on the spot for you.

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I observed that the chef at the station didnt get any break at all the whole night.:P

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I was aiming for the cod fish of course, but the queue put me off & I went on the attack the Indian station instead.

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But if the locally spiced grilled seafood & meats are more up your alley, just next to the Japanese corner another chef dutifully grills chicken wings, fish, lamb, beef to your liking.
I didnt sample any, as I couldnt find any of the items displayed that night. I saw the action each time I walked past, but didnt see any cooked meats displayed on trays/plates etc for the guests.

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Not to worry, there were more to distract me. Breads are a no-no for buffets since they are such tummy-fillers, but I couldnt resist as they looked really good. From my past visit to Favola, the breads were fantastic & I assumed that the same chef baked these below.

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Yup, still as good as before & I stuffed some cuts of imported cheese into a bun while waiting for my pasta.

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Chef Antoine Rodriguezis the executive chef for Le Meridien and he also helms Favola the Italian restaurant here. The moment he steps behind the pasta station, a queue formed; as everybody wanted their pasta to be prepared by him.
He asked each diner So, how do you want your pasta?. Everyone replied Give me your special one Chef. LOL!

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Moving on, I spied the Belgian waffle station

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..and stole a shot of this little girls waffle

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of which she decorated herself with the assortment of toppings & ice-cream available at the bar.

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After some exploring, I settled for the Indian station & had the beef shank (which was a tad salty for me), dhal with some Indian breads ( I liked the dhal!) before going Chinese.

** Beef shank which was alike marinated minced beef around the bone.

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** The wide assortment of curries were alright.

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**Indian breads Murtabak & the good old roti canai.

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**Loads of pickled Indian condiments.

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Tandoori chicken & fish.

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And more curries!

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Like I said, I went Chinese & found the steamed buns & assortment of dumplings to be satisfactory.

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To be honest, nothing in particular stood out for me here, so I busied myself taking pictures, talking & joking with fellow bloggers at my table. Anyhow, its my 1st time at Latest Recipe so I wont be able to compare the spread to previous visits. It was definitely not lacking in variety for sure, & I probably stuffed myself out too much at the Jap section to appreciate the rest of the spread.

Pictures:

Appetisers/Salads.

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Cold Cuts.

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SALTS: The little delights that you get when you dine at first class venues like this; premium salts to go with your food!:P

The dressings were housed in little tubes & mixed at perfect proportions to douse over your greens. Take your pick from Salsa Verde, Ranch, Strawberry & Malta dressings. Like I said, one is spoiled for choice here!

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For the local salads, douse them with fiery sambals!

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And here we have the local appetisers

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Tangy Malay salads kerabu for those Malaysian at heart.:P

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Fried salted fish & floss.

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SOUPS/CONGEE.

Sup tulang merah, bubur lambuk.

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MAINS HOT DISHES.

Noodles station.

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Chicken Rice.

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Individual hot dishes.

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Desserts.

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Chocolate fountain! BOTH DARK & WHITE CHOCOLATE!

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TRADITIONAL & local sweets.

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DURIANS!! :P
Serawa Durian. Subtly stinky & wonderfully creamy, meant to be paired with the roti jala.

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No ais kacang for me this time, but Chendol instead. The chendol here comes with freshly steamed glutinous rice!

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Stuffed? End your gluttony meal with some fibre.

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For a heart-warming buka puasa, invite family and friends for dinner at La test Recipe for RM 118++ per adult and RM 59++ per child or with additional Ramadhan, seafood, and grilled specialties at RM 128++ and RM 64++ on Friday and Saturday.

With a minimum of 50 people, guests can also entertain business associates for RM 128++ per adult and RM 64++ per child at the Grand Salon, level 8 or the Ballroom, level 6. All Ramadhan buffet dinners are accompanied with free flow kurma juice, teh tarik, sirap bandung, sugar cane juice and soy milk.

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Starting from 01 26 August 2011.
Time starting from 6.30pm 10.30pm.

Facebook fans enjoy 10% when booking using our Facebook reservations form!|
LIKE them here -http://www.facebook.com/lemeridienkualalumpur .
For reservations: Call +603 2263 7434 or email dining.lmkl@lemeridien.com

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All pictures are:

Samsung NX11