Master Chef

I am so pleased that "Master Chef Australia" is back again for another season. I absolutely LOVE this show! An interesting observation I have made is that during the Master Chef season my cooking skills RISE to a whole new level! Each night I find myself transfixed by the various Master Classes and have a whole new appreciation for skills like "separating eggs"; "filleting fish"; "making creme brulee"; "chocolate gnache"!

I look forward to any opportunity to put my culinary skills to the test and as I tie the apron around my waste, (secretly, shhh.......) pretend to be one of the contestants on Master Chef!
As it just so happened - I had a friend's birthday party to go to tonight and typed boldly at the bottom of the invitation was "bring a plate". My brain went into overdrive as I excitedly flipped through my 4 Donna Hay magazines looking for that special dish with real "WOW" factor. I finally decided to settle on a lovely Orange Tart called Aunie Sadie's Orange Tart from a local cookbook "Recollections and Recipes of Riverstone". Here's the recipe :
Ingredients :
2 cups SF flour
125g butter
1 egg
2tabs cornflour
1tab sugar
1 orange
1/2 lemon

Pastry :
Beat butter and sugar and mix in egg. Add sifted fours. Press into a tart plate. Bake inhot oven 180 degrees till light brown. Cool.
Filling :
Bring to boil 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar. Mix 1 tablespoon each of custard powder and cornflour with the juice of 1 orange and 1/2 lemon. Stir into sugar syrup. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring all the time. Take off heat and stire in 1 dessertspoon butter. Pour into tart shell. Chill. Top with whipped cream and toasted coconut and serve.

Unfortunately (as luck would have it) - it wasn't SET in time to take along to the party so I was FORCED to leave it at home! Interestingly, when I arrived home from the party at around 10.30 there was already a slice missing. My own "Matt Preston" aka Alan was forthcoming with his critique - absolutely delicious although the pastry was slightly thick on the base. (Mental note for future reference : remember to press the pastry thinner on the base!")

Good News for the Day : There is still 3/4 of the Tart left in the fridge!