should be V-day, right? Especially when food is such an expression of love…
So here is a dish full of love by the Dessert Queen herself – Julia
Taylor, runner-up MasterChef Australia 2012!
schedule and do a guest post for us. Read on and find out what Julia has been
up to since MasterChef. She has also shared a recipe for a gorgeous Strawberry
Tart. And that’s not all. At the end of the post is a link to another
recipe on her website – a delectable Red Velvet and Ristretto Layer Cake.
Now, over to Julia…
I’ve been lucky enough to have cooked my way across some of the best kitchens
in Australia. Places like Burch & Purchese, The Press Club and Albert
Street Food & Wine in Melbourne, food and wine festivals across the country
and finally at Zumbo Patisserie in Sydney. I was even lucky enough to accompany
George Calombaris and his chefs to the Atlantis Hotel, Dubai where we cooked
for anywhere between 80 and 400 guests – it was like a week-long MasterChef
challenge and so much fun!
Zumbo, studying on scholarship at Le Cordon Bleu in Sydney at the same time. So
whilst I spend every day making complex mousses and jellies, there’s always a
place in my heart and my down-time baking for simple classics. Here’s the
recipe for my favourite tart, topped with the freshest of summer strawberries.
Adapt the fruit to your season and enjoy.
- 120g Butter
- 75g Icing Sugar
- 25g Almond meal
- 1 Egg
- 200g Cake flour
- A pinch of Salt
In an electric mixer, cream the butter and add the
remaining ingredients one at a time. Bring together to form a disc of dough,
flatten slightly and wrap in clingwrap. Chill in the fridge for at least
30minutes and roll out to 3-5mm thick. Line a 30cm fluted tart tin with it,
trimming the edges. Prick the pastry all over with a fork and chill in the
fridge for 30minutes.
onto the tart surface and cover with dry rice, beans or baking beads. This will
weigh the surface down and stop the pastry from rising in the oven. Bake 15-18
minutes or until lightly golden, then remove the baking paper and rice and bake
a further 5-8 minutes or until golden. Cool and set aside.
- 400ml Milk
- 1 Vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 Egg yolks
- 60g Caster sugar
- 30g Cornflour
- 25g Unsalted butter
- 300ml Pure cream
Slice the vanilla bean in half and scrape the seeds
into the milk. Bring milk up to the boil and set aside to infuse with the
vanilla seeds and pod. In a bowl, whisk the yolks and sugar together until
pale, and then incorporate the cornflour. Bring the milk back up to simmer and
pour ¼ onto the yolks, whisking quickly. Add another quarter of the milk,
whisk; add the remaining milk. Pour the mixture back into the pot and bring up
to a gentle boil, stirring constantly. When thickened, remove from the heat and
cool for 10 minutes.
clingwrap placed directly onto the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a
skin forming. In a separate bowl, whip
the 300ml cream to soft peaks and set aside. Lightly whisk the chilled pastry
cream and then fold through the whipped cream gently.
- 500g Strawberries or berries of your choice
Place the pre-baked tart shell on a cake stand or
plate. Lightly spoon in the pastry cream and smooth the surface so it is level with
the edges. Slice strawberries and arrange on the pastry cream. You can brush
the strawberries with a little melted strawberry or apricot jam if desired, or
dust with icing sugar.
and Ristretto Layer Cake – click here. I hope you’ve enjoyed this guest
post. Let me know what you think. Until later.
you are the master chef but life is 40% luck:), do you know what? i have intuition that one day you will be between top 5 international chefs
if if travled to australia, for sure i will try your pastry:)
good luck
dudy from Algeria/ Arab