Pineapple Tarts and Apple Pie

There was pineapple left in the fridge (I made Spicy Hawaiian Chicken and Calamari and Onion pizza toppings last Sunday) and thought that it would be nice to make pineapple tarts from scratch.

I used :

3/4 pineapple (grated corasely and squeeze out some juice)
1/2 cup brown sugar
a pinch of ground cinnamon (as I did not have cinnamon sticks on hand; 1 clove would be nice too!)

Grated pineapple, sugar and cinnamon are placed in a heavy bottomed pan and cook over medium heat till thick and slightly caramelised (lower heat if necessary to prevent burning) - about 1/2 hour to 45mins. Set aside to cool.

I made the usual shortcrust pastry and baked 12 pineapple jam-filled tarts (in a preheated 190 deg C oven for about 15mins. I ran out of eggs!!! So, no eggwashing this time before baking....

You can tell I did not have enough jam to fully fill the tart shells... I like it though as I prefer to eat pastry than filling especially when it is of the sweet variety.

There was enough pastry left to make a 5-in apple pie.Not exactly pretty since there wasn't really enough pastry to cover the pie and no eggs. Also, I am not very patient sometimes... especially when I do not have all ingredients in hand.

Yummy though - just good ole peeled, cored and thinly sliced Granny Smith apple, some cinnamon powder, brown sugar and little dollops of butter as filling...

The smell of baking tarts and pies can be so therapeutic....

Lamb and Potato Curry Mini Pies

I cooked too much lamb and potato curry and having the same curry two days in a row is not so interesting for a person who doesn't like leftovers.

What better way to finish it up other than making curry puffs, samosas or pies? None.

So, I got busy and made a batch of shortcrust pastry to make mini pies just because I had this mental image of how cute they look.

Normally, I don't really measure when I cook - making pastry is no exception for me. I used 2 cups plain flour with a pinch of salt and 1/2 slab of 250gm chilled salted butter. Some ice water to bind the pastry dough.

There was very minimal rolling and handling and I made sure I keep the unused portion chilled in the fridge.

The end products were eggwashed before baking at preheated 190 deg C oven for 22 to 25 mins. These pies can be kept frozen - I don't freeze my stuffs for more than 2 weeks though.

Great for those need-a-snack-days!