We had this tart for breakfast at Hotel Albergaria do Calvário in Évora, Portugal. It had a good nutty flavor and was not overly sweet as the other pastries we’d had in Portugal. I loved it! The hotel kindly shared their recipe with me. So here it is how to make it!
This delicious tart takes a little bit of planning, First you poach the pears, which is a no-brainer. Then you make the shell, add the toppings and bake it again, et voilà – a beautifully golden colored, nicely caramelized tart!
I make a really good almond cake.
These thin wafer cookies, shaped like a tile, are light and take little effort to make.
It is the perfect dessert for a holiday party. Continue reading “Tuiles – French Almond Wafers”
Exact two months following the flowering, elderberries arrived at my local farmers market.
Elderberry, when cooked, has all sorts of health benefits. It boosts the immune system and is known to treat cold and flu symptoms. Continue reading “Elderberry Syrup”
I had a sudden crave for Matcha (Green Tea) Pudding the other night. To my surprise, this creamy delicate dessert is incredibly easy to make.
I went through several recipes online. Some calling for heavy cream which I found a little too dense to my taste. After several attempts, I settled on this one by Just One Cookbook. Continue reading “Japanese Green Tea Pudding”
Two things I miss most from visiting b.patisserie in San Francisco: one is chef Brenda Leong’s delicious kouign amann – I have yet to find anything like it in Seattle. The other is Bostock.
Bostock is toasted brioche soaked in pastry syrup, topped with almond cream(frangipane) and sliced almonds. It is quite easy to make, as long as you have day-old brioche. I didn’t have day-old brioche at hand, so I made one from scratch and waited till the next day to make bostock. I know it sounded like wasting a good loaf of freshly baked brioche. But when one wants a bostock, one must have it!
Ingredients:
Orange Pastry Syrup
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
orange juice, Grand Marnier, Cointeau or Triple Sec (to taste)
Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring syrup to a boil. Once sugar dissolves, remove from heat and cool. Add orange juice or liquer to syrup. Syrup keeps up to one month in the refrigerator. Continue reading “Bostock”
The best chocolate mousse I have ever had was in the Slovenian village of Divača. We had just crossed the border from Croatia, and on our way to Lake Bled, we stayed at a nineteenth centrury farmhouse overnight, so that we could visit the nearby Škocjan Caves, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The owner of the farmhouse Ervin is a fantastic chef, and to this day I still remember this asparagus risotto, so creamy and fresh:
And his chocolate mousse:
I went back after our cave visit the next day just to order it again, but an Australian couple beat me to it! Who said revenge is a dish served cold…To make it official, I took a picture of their plate ^o^. Continue reading “Chocolate Mousse (Vegan)”
