Easy French Tomato Tart 簡易法式蕃茄撻

Ever since my very first trip to France a couple years ago, I’ve fallen in love with the French pastry and their roasted tomatoes!  You can read more here, here, and here! I had them almost every morning for breakfast during my stay in France!  What a great way to start the day, right?  Today, I combined the two scrumptious ideas into one delicious recipe: Easy French Tomato Tart 簡易法式蕃茄撻!




This French Tomato Tart looks elegant and gorgeous!  It’s a wonderful entree for Sunday brunch or as a side dish.  Best of all, it’s quite easy to prepare.  In fact, I made this tart for brunch on a weekday when my hubby was working from home.  We both enjoyed this tart so much! 




This tart is packed with earthy and refreshing herbs, along with tangy and creamy goat cheese on top.  The tomatoes are roasted to perfection!  The sweet and tart tomato flavors truly concentrate when the moisture evaporated during baking at a rather high temperature.  The tangy goat cheese elevated the sweetness from the tomatoes.  They are absolutely the perfect pairing! 



I also brushed the crust with a little Dijon mustard and added a drizzle of honey on top of the tart right before baking.  Boy oh boy, the combination of flavors was complex with only a few basic ingredients.  It’s amazing how the flavors turned into one scrumptious and harmony treat!  However, I have to point out that my kids are not big fans for goat cheese, just yet.  They still need a more mature palate to appreciate this fine cheese.  That’s another reason why I prepared this tart while they were at school!  Nevertheless, this is one beautiful and delicious tart that I will be making over and over again, for the grown ups, at least! 

If you haven’t check out the video tutorial at the beginning of this post, please take a few minutes to watch it.  You’ll agree that this tart is rather easy to prepare.  Take advantage of the tomato season and make this tart!  It’s the perfect way to use up those abundant tomatoes in your garden!


Tools and ingredients used:

9-inch Round tar pan (Click here for more information)
Baking Sheets (Click here for more information)
Cooling Racks (Click here for more information)
Lemon Infused Olive Oil (Click here for more information)
Organic Honey (Click here for more information)
Core Bamboo 3-Piece Cutlery Set (Click here to see product information)

Dark Chocolate Orange Tartlets and Happy New Year

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas celebration with your friends and family.  As for me, besides feeling a little under the weather on Christmas Eve, I had a wonderful Christmas celebration with my family and loved ones.  Of course, it's not fun being sick.  But the up side was that it reminded me what's most important, my family’s health and the time we spent making new memories together.

I had been busy baking all month long in December for the holidays, special orders, and gift-givings.  With the New Year and Chinese New Year coming up soon, it seems that my “bakathon” (baking marathon) never ends!  It’s all good though, because I really enjoy what I do and I get to shared what I love with friends and family.     



Back to these Dark Chocolate Orange Tartlets, they are simply amazing.  Dark Chocolate and orange is probably one of my favorite flavor combinations.  These tartlets simply brighten up my palates and my days.  And I hope they'll bring some sunshine your way too, no matter where you are.  The orange curd is sweet and slightly tart at the same time; the dark chocolate cookie crust is rich and super chocolate-y, buttery and crumbly, which is heavenly on its own.




Imagine having a layer of crunchy dark chocolate between the chocolate cookie crust and the refreshing orange curd, hm….I don’t think anyone can refuse these tartlets.  Plus, the dark chocolate layer prevents the cookie crust from absorbing the moisture from the orange curd so it stays flaky and crunchy.  The candied orange slice on top truly put a wonderful finishing touch on these tarts; not only they are pretty to look at, they are also delicious on their own.  I hope you’ll give this recipe a try.  They are worth celebrating for. 



Last but not least, I wanted to thank you all for your supports, encouragement, suggestions, and comments throughout the years on my blog.  It’s wonderful to know each of you and words simply can’t describe how thankful I am to have you in my life.  So, thank you, from the bottom of my heart.  I also want to wish you all a blessed, healthy and prosperous 2014!  Please stay tuned for more recipes, reviews, and giveaways in the near future.  Happy New Year!

Mascarpone Asparagus Tarts (with pictorial)—For Mother’s Day

From my previous posts, we have desserts, a home made gift, and an entrée all covered for Mother’s day.  Now, it’s time to talk about appetizers.  This is probably one of the easiest appetizer that you can prepare that’s tastes and looks so sophisticated that it’s almost a crime, almost! 



I love appetizers, and I think all celebrations and gatherings should include an appetizer, if not 2, or 3.  This one is super easy to put together that you have no reason not to give it a try.  Plus, the flavor is amazing.  The creamy mascarpone is perfectly seasoned and flavored with the herbs.  The chive adds a nice and mild oniony flavor without overpowering the delicate mascarpone.  The thyme adds a nice and refreshing lemony scent to the filling.  The puff pastry is buttery and crispy, which goes really well with the creamy filling.  The flavor of the asparagus are intensified after roasting with a crisp-tender texture, which is perfect in my opinion.



Now, let’s move on to the step-by-step pictorial, shall we? 

1) In a medium bowl, mix the chives, thyme, salt and pepper and mascarpone cheese together.
2)With a pizza cutter, divide dough into 4 equal size squares.
3) With a pairing knife, gently create an 1/2-inch border on all 4 portioned dough.
4) With a fork, gently prick on the puff pastries within the border.



5) Spread the mascarpone mixture over the puff pastry.
6) Top with trimmed asparagus.
7) Whisk an egg yolk and a tablespoon of cream together.
8) Brush the puff pastry edges and bake to golden brown.



See, I told you it is super simple, right?  The flavor is incredible too.  I cut them in half to create 8 servings for appetizer.  If you’re serving these as entrée, which is totally a wonderful option, you can serve them as is and maybe have a side salad or soup to complete the meal.




Last but not least, Happy Mother’s Day to all Mothers, Grandmothers, and Mother-to-Be’s!  Have a blast and enjoy your day with great food and wonderful family. 

Meyer Lemon Meringue Tartlets—For Mother’s Day

Mother’s day is just around the corner.  How are you going to celebrate?  It’s one of the most popular holiday for dining out as we all wanted to give Mothers/Grandmothers a break from the kitchen.  As a mother myself (and the cook in the house), I will probably be cooking at home though, just to beat the crowds.  Good thing is that I don’t mind at all.  In fact, I enjoy spending time in the kitchen, especially baking.  I found it therapeutic (yeah, you can call me a weirdo for this one!)  I guess it’s the measuring and focusing that allow my mind to wonder off to a place that is far far away…to a dream land, perhaps.  In this case, a dream land filled with Meyer lemon goodness and cloud-like meringue softness.



These Meyer Lemon Meringue Tartlets were amazing.  The slightly golden brown crusts were flaky and buttery.  They were the perfect vessels for the creamy, silky, tart and sweet Meyer Lemon Curd in the middle; top off with slightly sweetened meringue that’s perfectly caramelized on the edges, soft and tender on the inside.  It melted in my mouth without a trace when I bit into one.  Doesn’t that sound like a dream on it’s own?  Yeah, I’ve been dreaming to create these tartlets for a while until I finally got a chance to to so.  Wait, am I the only one who dream about making food and creating recipes?  Please tell me I’m not alone! 



I think these Meyer Lemon Meringue Tartlets would be the perfect desserts to end a Mother’s Day meal, or any meal, period.  Guess what?  I haven’t plan the rest of the Mother’s Day menu besides this dessert.  That’s totally how things roll here.  Who doesn’t like to talk about desserts first? 



As you all know, I love recipes that can be made ahead, at least partially, especially for gatherings.  This Meyer Lemon Meringue Tartlets is one of those recipes.  I actually pre-baked the crust and made a batch of the Meyer Lemon Curd (fillings) the day before I plan to serve them.  The meringue on top has to be whipped up on the day of the party though.  Otherwise, it’ll get a little separated.  Good thing is, your guests will have fun trying to use the blow torch to caramelize these babies for you!  Yup, you heard me right, you get to play with fire use the blow torch in this recipe.  But if you don’t have one, don’t worry, you can still caramelized the meringue in the oven.  But that just doesn’t sound as much fun though. 



I’ll be posting other recipes to complete the menu for Mother’s Day.  Stay tuned.  Oh well, if I couldn’t post them all in time, I can always have those recipes for Father’s Day.