Goodbye Mangoes.. I'll Miss you :(

Buffets and Receptions


Mangoes.. The best fruit ever in my opinion. Though I lovve living in India, I'm usually criticizing how backward it is in the matter of availability of good products used for baking. We don't even get any good brand of chocolate, I always have to beg people who are coming here from abroad to carry things for me. How I'd love to own a KitchenAid *sigh*
That's why I'm very happy about mangoes, you get the best Alphonso mangoes over here :-) It's the one thing that we have, and people from other countries want :P

I've eaten mangoes in every possible way, and incorporated them into most of the things I baked in these past few months, as you can see with the trifle, and the cake with lemon curd. The past 2 months have been amazing because of them. This recipe was made as a send-off of sorts, to mangoes. The rains are almost here, and that's when we stop getting good mangoes.

I haven't tried making too many pies, so I thought it would a great way to practice making a pie crust, and also, make my last mango food. I used Sherry Yard's recipe, from her amazing book The Secrets of Baking. Though I love the book, this recipe didn't turn out too well, but I can't say for sure that it wasn't because of me. But all combined, the pie, with the lemon cream, and the reduced mango puree, was delicious. The lemon cream recipe is one I'm going to be using a lot more often, it was out of this world :-)




Sherry Yard's Flaky Pastry for Double-Crust pastry.
I halved, and got enough pastry for 2 6 inch tarts, and a few mini tartelettes.

Flour 12.5 oz [2 3/4 cups]
Butter 8 oz [2 sticks]
Ice Water 4 oz [112 g] [1/2 cup]
Salt 1 tsp
Vinegar ½ tsp
Sugar 2 tbsp

1. Sift flour, sugar and salt.together in a bowl.
2. Cut butter into 1 inch cubes, and freeze for about 10 minutes. Add the butter to the flour mixture, and beat using mixer, or mix by hand, until pea- sized lumps are formed.
3. Combine ice water and vinegar. Add to mixture. Beat until combined. Vary the amount of water depending on your location, the dough should lean towards moist rather than dry.
   
4. Wrap dough using plastic wrap, refrigerate for atleast 1 hour before using.

This dough can stay refrigerated for 3 days, and can frozen for upto 2 weeks.

I blind baked the mini tartelettes in the last picture for 7 minutes, and the 6 inch ones for 15-17 minutes. They were done perfectly.

I made a lemon cream to go with the pastry, from a great book Buffets and Receptions. Though I don't use the entire book, only the baking section, it is probably my most favourite book. It has recipes for literally EVERYTHING, albeit without too many pictures. It's great for anyone who knows the basics, as it provides adequate, but not too detailed instructions.

Lemon Cream from Lemon Meringue Pie
Adapted from Buffets and Receptions

5 eggs
250 g [10 oz] sugar
225 g [8 oz/ 2 sticks] butter
20 ml lemon juice

1. In a small saucepan, beat the eggs and sugar together.
   
2. Soften butter to room temperature, add to the sugar mixture.
3. Add lemon juice.
4. Bring to a boil, stir until smooth, then refrigerate.

I added the cream the tarts, and topped one of them with chopped mangoes [you can top with any fruit, the flavor of the cream doesn't overwhelm it] . For the other, I used reduced mango puree [aamras in hindi]. All I did was heat 1 packet [500g] of mango puree in a saucepan until it became thick [about 15 minutes]. Just to be safe, I then added a teaspoon of cornstarch, and took off heat 2 minutes after that. On refrigeration, it became thick enough to be used as the topping for the tart. You could also use a mango [about 2] and process it, instead of the puree. If you choose to do this, make sure you strain to remove the threads.