FoodieChat

OK so Masterchef has finished, all this free time now without TV to watch- what better to do than to test out the recipes! First up, the Aria chocolate tart.  I didn’t bother with the macarons, the sorbet or the chocolate glacage slick, but the tart seemed appealing enough.  So.. as you can see, my first attempt wasn’t exactly Masterchef quality, but it was ssooooo nice.  I made the mistake of lifting it off the tray before it had set, so I disturbed the top setting. And also you can see where I patched up the pastry which actually was quite crumbly. You do need to flour the board well to roll.

Definitely key tips are to let the pastry rest in the tin. And also, I halved the dough recipe and made one third of the filling recipe, which was enough for one tart and three mini tarts.  Cut with a heated knife to get a good edge.  Delicious strawberries! The recipe is found here: http://www.masterchef.com.au/aria-chocolate-tart.htm

Ever since watching Masterchef, I’ve had bad bad food cravings! By bad I mean naughty foods, but also unrelenting cravings! One was for seafood bisque – due to the masterclass (lobster bisque with linguine); and the celebrity chef challenge from that singaporean chef (scampi bisque sauce).  Since I didn’t want to bother with the billions of ingredients that Gary used which included tarragon, mint, lobster, thyme, I opted to use the singaporean chef’s one – but using prawn shells and heads instead.  So for 2 serves, it involved: 14 prawns, half a bulb of fennel, half a leek, and half an onion, 3 loaves of garlic – saute in olive oil until cooked; then add half a chopped tomato, and cover it with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 45 minutes.  In another pot, I boiled up the linguine; and then when the bisque was almost done, I deveined and butterflied the prawns, and sauteed those in olive oil, garlic and chilli.  Then I strained the bisque, added a dash of cream and seasoning, poured over the prawns, and thickened with a little flour, and tossed throug hthe linguine. Garnish with chopped parsley. Very nice! Inspired by recipes from www.masterchef.com.au.