: a fresh approach to fruit :

So. I've sort of been on a blog hiatus for 4 months.

It's not you. It's me.

I've just been so busy... you know... school... work...

I know, I know.

It's no excuse.

But... ladies and gentlemen - I'm back! And with some more healthy (and not so healthy) eating advice ;)

This is a post I've been wanting to write for some time now. Earlier this year, I entered a recipe development competition for Sun Rich Fruits. The challenge was to create something unconventional using their chopped fruit products, in less than 5 steps, with minimal/easy cooking. Seeing as I have an affinity for Asian cuisine, I opted to make an Asian dish. What transpired was a Thai-Style Tropical Shrimp Cocktail!

It was a bit of a last minute entry, but lucky I entered because I won! (My classmate won the other prize as well :)). I had been waiting to post this entry because they were going to post the recipe on their website (and I had wanted to link it), but alas, it still has not made it. But they did send me a stack of postcards/recipe cards they made up for my recipe :) These cards are meant to be distributed at shows and retailers, so it's kind of neat to be "in print"!

Enjoy!




Thai-Style Tropical Shrimp Cocktail (serves 6)

Ingredients:
18 Medium-sized shrimp, cooked and peeled
1 cup Sun Rich Pineapple Chunks
1 cup Sun Rich Orange Sections
1 cup Sun Rich Grapefruit Sections
1 cup Sun Rich Mango Chunks
2 tbsp. Chopped fresh cilantro

Dressing:
2 tbsp. Lime juice, fresh
1 tsp. Rice vinegar
1/2 tsp. Fish Sauce
1.5 tsp. Brown Sugar
1/8 tsp. Bird's eye chili, finely minced
1/8 tsp. Lime zest, finely minced
Salt to taste

Directions:
1. Combine dressing ingredients in a bowl.
2. Add fruit and cilantro to the dressing and toss thoroughly to coat.
3. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes for flavours to develop.
4. Prior to service, add shrimp and toss. Serve immediately in individual glasses for cocktail appetizers, or as a side dish.

: get fruity :

I've never really considered myself much of a baker. As much as I love cakes, pastries and sweets, I've always been more of an eater, and less the maker. So it's a bit surprising to myself that most of my posts thus far have been about desserts.

I think the one thing I've discovered since creating this blog is that desserts are one of the most fun foods to jazz up! It's so easy to make a simple dessert look completely elegant, or oh so cute. (Okay, maybe those ducks actually did take quite some time to make! But you get the idea). As such, I've currently been mostly experimenting with desserts and how to make them look delicious and attractive (on camera and off!).

I made this fruit flan in my Culinary Desserts class, and it looked so good that I just had to share. The recipe is also dead simple, and straight from our class workbook. And it's actually quite good! Measurements are all in grams/ml, and some adaptations apply.



Fruit Flan (makes one flan)

Ingredients:
Pastry:
100g Sugar
170g Shortening
3g Salt
1/4 t Vanilla extract
1 Eggs
25ml Milk
300g Pastry flour

Custard:
375ml Whole milk
75g Sugar
30g Cornstarch
1 Eggs
1/2 t Vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Melted chocolate (about 1/4 cup, enough to cover your pastry crust bottom.
Fruits (of your choice)
Apricot jam, heated up with a little bit of water to a glazing consistency

Directions:
1. To prepare pastry crust, cream together sugar, shortening and vanilla until light and fluffy.
2. Add eggs one at a time, scraping down bowl. Add milk and just disperse.
3. Sift and add flour. Blend until incorporated - DO NOT OVERMIX.
4. Work dough on floured table. Chill until needed.
5. For the custard filling: In a saucepan, combine milk, cornstarch and 1/2 the sugar and bring to a boil.
6. In a bowl, whisk eggs with the remaining sugar until pale and slightly thickened
7. Temper the egg mixture and add to saucepan.
8. Whisk until mixture thickens, ensuring it is smooth and lump-free, then remove from heat and add vanilla and mix through.
9. Pour pudding onto a clean sheet of plastic on a tray (to prevent skin from forming) and refrigerate and let cool.
10. Roll out pastry crust to 1/4 inch thickness and line flan or tart pans. Poke holes with a fork in the dough. Bake shell in 350F oven until golden brown (15-30 min).
11. When pastry shell is ready, let cool slightly and 'paint' on melted chocolate to prevent soggy bottoms.
12. When chocolate has cooled completely, add custard and smooth out.
13. Arrange a variety of fruits in an artistic design covering all cream (I used strawberry, tangerines and kiwis).
14. Glaze fruits with melted apricot jam.