Fruit Tartlets. So purty and cute.

& very gorgeous colours. Mmm..

Work has been great until now - I'm loving it!! Told ya I'm working in an Irish Italian restaurant right, so my duty as a pastry cook actually covers alot more than just desserts. I bake breads!! A lot of them in fact. This is very interesting for me because I don't make breads at home and my chef is getting his friend (a pastry chef from Fullerton Hotel) to teach me MORE breads tomorrow! Omggggg (double YAY) The whole kitchen warned me that the pastry chef is extremely fierce already LOL, so I hope I don't do stupid things out of anxiety =x

Although work has been a little crazy lately, I'm still baking every night. My chef says I have "no life" LOL! & I sleep really little because of this. BUT I don't mind. CAUSE I SUPER-DUPER LOVE MY JOB :) I love everything about it. I love walking into a kitchen seeing my faithful friends - sugar/flour/butter/eggs, Yah you know..! I also love making salads, pizzas and frying the calamari/wedges. LOL! Plus, an Australian chef once said "sleep is overrated" HAHAHA, I always remember it.

Anyway, today is Thanksgiving. What's Thanksgiving then..? I wouldn't know the most complete answer as it's my first time celebrating it! - it gives me another opportunity to bake HAHA. Sorry to harp on it, but I MISSED THE HALLOWEEN'S BAKING OK =( I baked the Pâte Sucrée (sweet pastry dough) on Tuesday night, made the creme patissierie on Wednesday night which failed (I think I overcooked it) and so I did another lemon curd + assembling this morning! Remember, you don't want to pipe the filling too early because it will (that's what I think) wet the tart shells =) If I wasn't flooded with early mornings' appointments I'd have posted the tart shells post on its own previously!

Lovely and adorable looking baby fruit tarts for all the chefs in my kitchen. I'm going to highlight another point too, there're 2 chefs in my kitchen who are from Phillpines and they taught me to speak Phillpines (haha). I call them "Kuya" which means "brother" in Phillpines! One of them is returning to his country for good! =( This is seriously making me sad. Although I'm only there for a week but they 'd been very nice and patient towards me even when I tear the pizza dough and ask them alot of questions about where the various things are kept.. These fruit tarts probably came at the right time during Thanksgiving. It's especially for him, for my duapo kuya (which means handsome brother) HAHA!

I'd also like to assure you 10 times that these fruit tarts were SO good I can't help but walk to the fridge frequently & steal one after another! Haha, the combination of chocolate (NUTELLA~) and lemon curd was perfect. The acidity and sweetness met well and my chef likes it too. He gave me a suggestion to improve on it and I thought it was really brilliant - introduce kaffir into my tarts' filling. Incredible, I feel. I'd surely do it the next time! Another random note, the berries SURE burnt a big hole in my student's-budget-pocket. LOL. It's crazy in Singapore because of the limited supply -__-"

Pâte Sucrée Recipe from Gordon Ramsay's Just Desserts
makes 500g (just nice for what I made)

125g butter, softened
90g sugar
1-2 vanilla pods (I use extract. VANILLA PODS ARE UNREASONABLE EXP TOO LOL)
1 large free range eggs
250g flour
1/8 tsp sea salt

Beat butter and sugar tgthr until smooth and creamy but not fluffy. Slit open vanilla pods and scrape out the seed with the tip of a knife, adding them to the creamed mixture.
With the mixer on slow speed, gradually incorporate the beaten eggs. Stop the machine once of twice to scrape down the sides.
Sift flour and salt tgthr. With the mixer on its lowest speed, add flour in 3-4 stages. As soon as the mixture come together as a crumbly dough, stop the machine.
Briefly knead the dough on a light floured surface with your hands until smooth - this should take only a minute of two (you don't want to release the butter in the dough)
Divide the dough if you want, or just cling wrap it and chill it. Freeze any for later use.

Lemon Curd Recipe from here

zest of 3 lemons
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
juice of 3 lemons (about 1/2 cup)
pinch of salt

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together zest, butter, and sugar.
Incorporate eggs one at a time and mix until smooth.
Add in lemon juice and salt.  Mixture will be curdled.
Pour mixture into a large saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for about 10 minutes.  Lemon curd will come together and thicken.
When it is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, remove from heat.  Strain into a glass bowl and allow to cool.  Refrigerate or freeze until you need it.

For assembling, pipe nutella into tarts then spoon lemon curd over it. Garnish with your favourite fruits. Chill, and enjoy!

WHAT DID YOU BAKE FOR THANKSGIVING THEN? Hehe.