ayonecan-cook

Dragon fruits are flamboyant with their shocking pink skins and their even more shocking purple-pink insides. However they are, in flavour, not such the drama queen that they appear to be (its more elegant twin is white inside).  It is not an overwhelming fruit. It is mildly sweet, soft and quite refreshing and the seeds somewhat nutty in texture. It is native to South America and today it is cultivated widely in Vietnam for commerce.  I stared at it sitting in my fridge in all its pink and purple glory. I had bought it skinned and sliced. I thought it would make an outrageous looking jam. I had originally bought it because I had wanted to make a natural food colouring. But I realised after checking at Tes's lovely blog that it is not the flesh that is used to make a pink/red food colour but the inside of the skin. Experiment abandoned. So I made jam ~  It turned out looking beautifully purple pink. And because it does not have an overwhelming flavour I quite liked it....

Some things find you even when you're not looking for them. Like a little tart press.  The little tart press worked like a charm. It stamped out smart little crimped tart shells that looked like they were about to march off the baking tray in a fine little procession. And the depressions..... they were simply waiting to be sat on by sticky ole pineapple jam. My little pineapple tart press, the love of my life. And the pastry..ahhhh that's yet another joy in my tart life. I had used a combination of plain flour and custard powder and a little more than half the proportion of butter to the flour mixture. It produced the most light, the most buttery and the most crumbly pastry when baked yet it remained an obliging and workable dough in its raw form. Without a doubt the magic ingredient was the custard powder which provided the lightness and gave that gorgeous golden glow to the finished tarts. It abolished the need for an egg wash. Magic ~ yes?  I almost shrieked uereka. And I ...

I feel a little silly doing this again .......But here goes...  The e-exchange........... "Oh JU! i am making this tonight!!... LOL ~ I've had the jam in the fridge for a week...and tonight I'm making it ~ what a surprise when I came over and saw your tarts !!! we have the same same mind Ju! :) ~Zurin~ LOL!! Zurin, you must share your recipe with me!!! Looking forward to reading about your bake soon. ~Ju~ GONE Ju .....the tarts did not survive the night....LOL....i only made 25 pieces because I was craving them...i was hoping no one would ask for them but not so. Now I have nothing to blog about..well nothing decent ...unless I blog on my left over chicken curry from last night (before it's time for lunch)... uh uh.. I don't think so ~. Anyway I'll just go stick my head into my pantry, the fridge, the freezer ..whatever..and see what I can come up with for this very demanding blog of mine! The things we do! SIGH  ~zurin~  Gone?! LOL!!! Must be really yummy! ...