{Halloween Special} Jack O' Lantern, Black Cat Pumpkin Soup, Eyeballs Fettuccine And Death By Chocolate

Halloween is the celebration typically held on 31st October each year where this date marked the end of the summer and beginning of the cold winter which was often a time of death. As usually this year you could also join in some Halloween event at some of the tourist attraction such as Universality Studios Singapore, Halloween Horror Nights(here), Sentosa Spooktacular (here), FrightFest@Singapore Flyer (here) and etc.

This is the second year (read last year post, here) I cooked Halloween theme dishes despite that we don't actually celebrate this festival. Same as last year I have cooked a creamy pumpkin soup but with fusion of Asian and Western ingredients. And for this year we have a set Dinner Menu that comes with salad, soup, pasta and dessert with Halloween theme decorated.

{Giveaway plus Review} Easy Thai Cooking by Robert Danhi

Last month while lasing with Bee's Easy Chinese Recipes cookbook giveaway with Tuttle Publishing, Margaret from the team suggest if I would like to review Chef Robert Danhi's cookbook on Easy Thai Cooking. (more information at www.chefdanhi.com). I was thrilled and immediately accepted the offer because my family (especially my mum) love Thai cuisines.

In this post I would be sharing 3 dishes (with a complimentary recipes) which I have tried a few days back from Chef Robert's Easy Thai Cooking cookbook. With the step-by-step photos and sample recipes you can easily follow the preparation on these delicious dishes shown below.

{Quick Version} French Apple Tart

I have some extra Green Apples left in the fridge after making the "Pork Schnitzel And Apple Salad" so after gathering a few related ingredients from the pantry I decided to make this quick and simple French Apple Tart for afternoon tea snack. And in order to shorten the preparation time I decided to use our favourite frozen puff pastry(i always keep a pack in the freezer) as we love that buttery flaky base.

Most of the French Apple Tart use two different layers of fillings such as cooked apple cubes top with apple slices. But since this is a quick version I have omitted the cooking process and replaced it by layers sliced apple.

FRENCH APPLE TART

(serves: 4-6 | Preparation: 10 minutes | Cooking: 20 minutes)

Ingredients: 
1 Sheet frozen Butter Puff Pastry, partially thawed
Knot of Butter, to grease
1/4 Cup Ground Almond Meal
2 Tablespoons Caster Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1 Egg White, lightly beaten
2 Granny Smith Apples, halved, cored, thinly sliced
1/2 Tablespoon Brown Sugar, optional
2 Tablespoons Apricot Jam/Marmalade

Method:-

1. Preheat oven to 220 Degree Celsius. Lightly grease a baking tray with butter and place pastry sheet onto greased tray.

2. Using the tip of a sharp knife, score pastry by only cutting half way through, 2cm from edge.

3. Combine almond meal, sugar, cinnamon and egg white together. Spread over pastry within the inner border.

4. Top with apples, overlapping slightly, sprinkle some brown sugar evenly on the apples and bake in preheated oven for about 18 - 20 minutes or until apples are tender and pastry is golden.

5. Mix jam with 2 tablespoon boiling water in a small bowl until spreadable. Brush over cooked tart, cut into pieces and serve. (you can serve it plain with pair with vanilla ice-cream or custard)

The end result was great and addicting as you can have different layers of texture range from moist fragrant apple, cinnamon and flake spread on top of those flaky buttery base. This is definitely a quick and easy tea snack with a cup of decent tea with a couples of friends.

To make your tart look more attractive with that shinning outlook you can also glazed it with some apricot preserves that is dilute with hot water and in a way it also enhance the apples with a moist texture too.

Chilli Jam Chicken

When it comes to prepare dishes for our daily meals I am always on the move in searching or creating quick and easy dish that can be served within an hour. With a kid at home as well as busying with work and household chores sometime I would also need some help from those instant sauce to add flavour to the dishes. Like example; today I am using the "Dancing Chef - Special Sauce" which is a closer version in term of taste to the western "chilli jam". And this sauce actually goes well either meat and seafood too.