Egg Pastry Food

PORTUGESE CUSTARD TARTS

Steps:

• Lightly grease a 12 hole muffin tin and pre-heat oven to 200C/180C fan/Gas 6
• Put egg, yolks, sugar & cornflour in a pan and mix well together then gradually add the milk until mixture is well mixed and smooth.
• Place pan on medium heat and stir constantly until mixture thickens and comes to the boil. Remove pan from heat and stir in vanilla extract.
• Put custard in a glass/ceramic bowl to cool and cover with cling film to prevent skin forming.
• Cust pastry sheet into two pieces and place them on top of each other. Roll the pastry tightly, from the short side, into a log and cut the log into 12 even sized rounds.
• On a lightly floured board, roll each round into a disc (approx. 10cm) and press the pastry discs into the muffin tin.
• Spoon in the cooled custard and bake for 20-25mins until golden on top. Leave to cool in the tin for 5mins then move to a cooling rack to finish cooling although they can be eaten warm.

BACON, EGG AND CHEESE TURNOVERS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Put a large skillet over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook, flipping once, until crispy, about 7 minutes. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate to cool, then roughly chop. Set aside.
• Whisk together 4 of the eggs in a medium bowl until homogeneous, then stir in the chives and mozzarella.
• Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Pour the egg mixture into the hot skillet and cook until the bottom is set. Use a spatula to gently pull the bottom cooked parts to the sides of the skillet to make space for more of the mixture to cook. Repeat this gentle pulling process one or two more times until a majority of the mixture is set, then transfer the mixture to a bowl. The eggs should still be be quite wet, as they'll continue to cook in the oven. Season them with salt and pepper and a few shakes of hot sauce.
• On a work surface, roll out the puff pastry to a 10-by-15-inch rectangle. Cut into six 5-inch squares. Top each of the squares with a schmear of scallion cream cheese, then a bit of the bacon and finally a spoonful of the scrambled eggs, distributing them evenly and leaving a 3/4-inch border around the edges.
• Beat the remaining egg with 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl to make an egg wash. Brush the edges of the puff pastry squares with the egg wash, fold them in half to make rectangles and pinch the edges to seal them well. Transfer them to the prepared baking sheet, placing them 1 inch apart. Brush the tops with the egg wash and top with the Everything Bagel Topping. Bake until golden brown; begin checking for doneness at 30 minutes. Let cool slightly and serve with ketchup. Leftovers can be refrigerated and reheated in a toaster oven.
• Combine the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, dried minced garlic, dried minced onion and salt in a small bowl.

FOOLPROOF SHORTCRUST PASTRY (FOOD PROCESSOR METHOD)

Steps:

• Cut the butter into small cubes and arrange on a small plate. Freeze for 20 minutes.
• Add the flour and salt to a food processor, then pulse to combine. Add the butter and process for 10 continuous seconds, until the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs.
• Add the egg and process for 5 seconds. Add the ice water and process for 20 seconds. The dough should now start clumping together. Turn the mixture out onto a work surface. The mixture will easily hold together when pressed. Using your hands, gather the dough into a ball then flatten into a disk, kneading it as lightly as possible.
• If you're making shortcrust pastry right before you need to use it, gather it into a disk, set it on a lightly floured surface, and roll it out to the required size. Ease into a pie or tart pan, lay flat on a baking sheet, or cut out and fit into muffin pans if making tartlets. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour. Use as instructed by the recipe.
• You can alternatively wrap the ball of shortcrust pastry in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 3 days, or freeze for 1 month.
• Bring refrigerated shortcrust pastry back to room temperature at least 30 minutes before rolling. Thaw frozen shortcrust pastry overnight in the refrigerator, then bring back to room temperature at least 30 minutes before rolling.

OLD-FASHIONED SWEET SHORTCRUST PASTRY

Steps:

• This pastry is perfect for making apple and other sweet pies. Even if you've never made pastry before, as long as you stick to the correct measurements for the ingredients and you follow the method exactly, you'll be laughing. The one place where you can experiment is with flavouring. If you don't fancy using lemon zest, try another dry ingredient like orange zest instead. Or a pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg or cocoa powder. Vanilla seeds are great too. Just remember to be subtle and don't go overboard with any of these flavours!
• Try to be confident and bring the pastry together as quickly as you can - don't knead it too much or the heat from your hands will melt the butter. A good tip is to hold your hands under cold running water beforehand to make them as cold as possible. That way you'll end up with a delicate, flaky pastry every time.
• Sieve the flour from a height on to a clean work surface and sieve the icing sugar over the top. Using your hands, work the cubes of butter into the flour and sugar by rubbing your thumbs against your fingers until you end up with a fine, crumbly mixture. This is the point where you can spike the mixture with interesting flavours, so mix in your lemon zest.
• Add the eggs and milk to the mixture and gently work it together till you have a ball of dough. Flour it lightly. Don't work the pastry too much at this stage or it will become elastic and chewy, not crumbly and short. Flour your work surface and place the dough on top. Pat it into a flat round, flour it lightly, wrap it in clingfilm and put it into the fridge to rest for at least half an hour.

EGG PASTRY

Steps:

• Put flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to mix well.
• With the motor OFF, cut in the cold butter and margarine.
• Pulse until the fats are in about 1/4 inch pieces.
• Put the lemon juice OR vinegar and the egg, beaten into a measuring cup and add enough ice water to make 1/2 cup.
• Start your processor and feed water in a slow stream through the tube.
• Watch what your doing as you may not need all the liquid, because as soon as the dough begins to gather together stop the machine.
• The dough does not have to form a ball but it should be soft and silken.
• Turn dough out onto waxed paper, form into two balls, wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

SCRAMBLED EGGS IN PUFF PASTRY

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 F degrees.
• Roll out the puff pastry a bit, so that it's about 18 inches x 14 inches. You'll need about 4 inches down the center of the pastry, so start cutting 1 inch strips, leaving the 4 inches in the center.
• Add a tablespoon of butter to a skillet and melt it. Add the mushrooms and kielbasa and fry for a couple minutes. In the meantime, whisk together 6 eggs and mix with the shredded Swiss cheese.Add the eggs to the skillet and cook. Add the parsley for color and season with salt and pepper.
• Let the scrambled eggs cool. Place the scrambled eggs in the center of the pastry.
• Take a strip from each side and fold over the eggs. One from each side at a time, sort of forming this braid.
• Brush the pastry with the egg wash and bake in the oven for about half hour or until nice and golden brown.

EGG PASTRY

Steps:

• Sift flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Using a pastry cutter, cut in shortening until until particles are the size of small peas.
• In another bowl, combine egg, water and lemon juice. Sprinkle over dry ingredients tossing and stirring with a fork until mixture is moist enough to hold together.
• Divide in half; shape into 2 flat balls.
• Roll.
• Makes 1 8 or 9 inch 2-crust pie.