Tarts in the making...

Once upon a time, in the small country of Singapore, Nat and Steffles decided they want to make tarts! To experiment and improve on their tart making skills - specifically short crust pastry. That day, they made short crust versions of savoury and sweet!

The experiment gave them lots of insights. One useful tip is never throw out your leftover pastry. After the "blind baking", you're most likely to find that your pastry has cracked or shrink. This is the best time to use those leftover dough to patch it up. Another useful tip is to roll the pastry between 2 layers of clingwrap. That way, the dough will never get stuck to the rolling pin or break easily when you transfer it to the pan.


The tarts they made were Mini Lemon Meringue Tarts (courtesy of Donna Hay Modern Classics 2) and a Parsley and Scallion Tart with Walnut Pastry (courtesy of The Cooks Book). Both turned up amazingly good. They also made some Cinnamon Hazelnut Biscotti from a class that Nat attended at Shermay's Cooking School.

Parsley and Scallion Tart with Walnut Pastry
- courtesy of The Cook's Book from Jill Norman
Serves 4

For the pastry
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 medium egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup ground walnuts

For the filling
3 eggs and 1 egg yolk
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
3 tbsp low fat milk
1 tbsp chopped parsley
6 scallions, chopped
1/4 cup grated Cheddar cheese
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Method:
1. Mix the butter with the egg and a pinch of salt. Add the flour and walnuts, and knead once or twice to combine the ingredients evenly. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
2. Roll out the pastry and line a 10 inch (25cm) tart pan. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 400 F (200C), then bake the pastry shell for 15 mins. If the side of the shell has slid down a bit, repair nay gaps with pieces of leftover pastry. Let the shell cool for 10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 350F (180C).
3. Whisk all the filling ingredients together and season. Place the pastry shell on a baking sheet on the lower shelf of the oven and pour in the filling. Bake until the filling is set but still soft and lightly browned on top, about 30 minutes.