HappyPearEats

Early this year, our dear friend Nadyne came back from her six months business trip, so we decided to have meet up before she went on her next trip. Since two in our group have got kids, I thought meeting outside would be hard and we possibly won't have much time to catch up. Therefore, I was so brave to put my hand up and suggested to meet up for brunch at my place!

I have never cooked for seven adults plus three kids before. However, I do love being around with people. Well, it turned out not bad. Actually, I would say it was good! Considering, I have no experience at all :D So, that was a big proud moment for me when I put up the food on the table.

I always want to cook a nice breakfast / brunch to Mr. Pear and friends. This was the perfect time! A week before the brunch I tried to think about the menu and thought about if I could have enough time to prepare all the these that I wanted to cook. I was stressed, but a good one! I love the challenge! So, these were the dishes on the menu (clockwise):

• Chorizo & broccoli quiche
• Egg salad buns
• Pancakes with blueberry compote
• Curry chicken salad sandwiches

This is my first ever quiche from scratch. My first batch of the pastry was a disaster. I did not know what went wrong but the tart came out was ugly (but it still tasted good). So, I quickly did another batch and put it in the fridge and finished the rest in the next morning.

 The second batch was not looking great but it was so much better. I love the tart pastry, very crunchy! I will definitely make it again for weeknight dinner!

There was a little hiccup when I made this apple tarte tatin. I burnt the sugar!! Oh, no!!! What an unforgivable mistake! Before the guests came, I was trying to multitask myself... cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, blah blah blah... I kinda overestimated my efficiency! I put the sugar in the pan and left the kitchen and try to do something else which I should not do. I should watch the sugar closely because it is the most important part of the whole dish! And that is how it got burnt...

Again, as I was too busy with cooking for the night, I kinda forget to take pictures :((( And I almost forgot to take this finished product... as you can see, there is only a small on the plate... hopeless!! X_X

{ via MasterChef Australia }

serves 2 | prep 10 mins | cook 30 mins | French 

[ Ingredients ]

3 golden delicious apple

1 tbs lemon juice

1/2 cup (110 g) caster sugar

20 g unsalted butter, chopped

ready-rolled puff pastry sheet

cream, to serve

[ Method ]

1 Preheat oven to 220°C (200°C  fan-forced).

2 Peel apples, cut into quarters, remove cores (cutting each quarter at the core so it has a "flat" side), and toss the quarters in a large bowl with the lemon juice and 1 tbsp of sugar.

3 Using 20 cm frying pan as a guide, cut pastry into a round slightly larger than the pan, prick with a fork.

4 Melt butter in a 20 cm non-stick frying pan over medium-hight heat. Cover with the remaining sugar. Cook over medium-low heat, shaking pan occasionaly to spread around any dark spots that appear, until a rich caramel forms.

5 Place apple quarters into pan, rounded side down, arranging them around pan. Cut remining apple to fill gaps. Cook the apples over medium heat for about 10 mins until caramel is bubbling up in the pan, shaking pan occasionally to prevent burnt spots

6 Lay the pastry over the apples, tucking any protruding edges around edges of pan

7 Place the pan in the oven, cook for about 25 mins, or until the puff pastry has risen and cooked. The pastry should be dry and flaky. Stand tarte in pan for 10 mins before carefully turning out onto a serving plate. Serve with cream. 

♥  bon appétit  :)