The final dish from the Hen's Party Spring Collection 2005. :-) These little lemon tarts are replicas of the lemon meringue tarts I made for my friend's going-to-Japan cocktail party (aka alcohol debauchery) in July. Again, I used my home-made lemon curd, and made my own pate brisee for the pastry.
Unfortunately, in a fit of over-organisation, I decided to prepare these the night before -see bottom picture. I added the hideously expensive blueberries (fresh blueberries in spring? $8 a punnet!!) and was happy with how they looked, so put them in the cool laundry overnight. The next morning I found the lemon curd dried, withered and cracked. Heh, Dried up like a potsherd! And the was pastry soft and crumbly, from having absorbed the lemon juice. Buggery bugger!
So, in an effort to save these, I added a small dollop of whipped cream to each one, and placed one on top of the other; handling them very carefully so they didn't disintegrate, so to make little PacMan tarts. Many did fall apart, so I wasn't left with a great deal, but with the cream and blueberries poking out, they did still look quite pretty, if not quite as dramatic as they did the night before. Ah well.
Good save Niki! They look fantastic - both before and after! :)
ReplyDeleteBrilliant save, Niki. I'm sure that no one would have guessed that you didn't intend to make pacmen!
ReplyDeleteHow pretty toppped with the pricey berries! Glad you got both shots! FYI my Canadian grandmother always put a tiny bit of cream cheese in before adding the curd. My friends call these "Nana's Tarts", usually starting with, May I have another ...?
ReplyDeleteTee Hee....they do look like little Pac-Man figures. They sound delicious, too.
ReplyDeleteMmmm they look so cute and delicious. Good to see you were able to save them.
ReplyDeleteWow, that really was brilliant! I would have been muttering and/or crying and they would have been in the trash (or possibly my stomach) before even one lame idea occurred to me. Kelly's right - they're gorgeous before and after!
ReplyDeleteThat was a great idea Niki. And I bet that from now on that's how you'll make them. You know, the original looked good but these look so unusual.
ReplyDeleteThey look just too pretty! What a great idea to salvage them and make them even more unusual (though,er, I am very non-tech-savvy and have no idea what Pacmen are!)...I love your serving platter too.
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