I’ve been illustrating recipe ideas for my next cookbook (just for fun, they won’t be in the book): pastry creams, mousses and lots of other delicious treats.

On the 6th October 2009 a Pie Party was circled on my social calender. I headed down to La Cocotte to show everyone how to make them. Lemon meringue, Banoffee, Apple & Cheddar and Pumpkin pie, plus a delicious pie crust were head lining the event. Recipes were all easy as pie

Special thanks to Djoukaze for the photos.

If you are on a picture and you want it to be removed, please send me an email.

No, I’m not referring to the band 3T from the nineties, although it would be quite fitting with the whole MJ saga going on. More to do with the fact the number 3 has been cropping up quite a lot recently.

I’m on the last leg of big events before the summer break with my debut on the Paris scene this Monday at the Chacha. After getting back from London with a great mash up dinner behind me and the 500 biscuits for the school of life event aswell. I was ready for a break, not a third event. Unfortunately that was not going to be an option. Recipes had to be tested and tasted for the dinner. A dj, photographer and assistants had to be found. PR and marketing malarky to do. Plus I’ve been running around all the vintage stores and markets looking for the perfect Jackie outfits for the three Kennedy hostesses.

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Dust off your blonde wig, your Jackie 0 sunglasses or your ‘too cool for school’ J.F.K. sixties suit. Miss Khoo is taking over the Chacha for the tastiest event in town.
For Monday 13th July Rachel Khoo has created a 3 course dinner and a Kennedy cocktail to tantalize your tastebuds. Top that all off with a cupcake pimping session and some swinging sixties & fifties sounds spun by DJ Sylvania. The whole of Paris will be there and who knows maybe the Kennedy’s might pop by.

40€ Cocktail + 3 course dinner (starter + main + dessert/cupcake session)

RSVP chacha@chachaclub.fr

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Enlevez vos lunettes de soleil Jackie O et vos costumes JFK années 60. Rachel Khoo va envahir le ChaCha pour la soirée le plus KHOOl de Paris.

Lundi 13 juillet, Mademoiselle Khoo va nous partager ses recettes chic et délicieuses lors d’un dîner – entrée, plat, dessert – et un “Kennedy cocktail” pour réveiller vos papilles. Tout ça avant un “cupcake pimping session” ou vous pouvez décorez vos propres cupcakes, le tout accompagné des sons des années 50 et 60 par DJ Sylvania.

Le tout Paris sera là, et, qui sait, même les Kennedys eux-même vont peut-être y faire un petit tour nous joindre.

40€ Cocktail + dîner [entrée, plat, dessert/ cupcakes]

RSVP  chacha@chachaclub.fr – réservation obligatoire

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Tuesday night I invited the lovely ladies who will be assisting me on Monday night for a dress rehearsal. I found myself styling clothes, hats and hair instead of food.  For dinner I rustled up this tart which just involved me seeing what I had in my fridge.  I was loosely inspired by what I had read in the Guardian at the weekend. And it so happened that the filling used three types of vegetables: carrots, beetroots and red onions. I managed to get these amazing red onions which were a cross between a large spring onion and a red one which were perfect for this tart.

I will let those of you who are coming this Monday be the judge whether I should stick to my day job up or whether I might have a new career as a fashion stylist

3T Tarte (three tones tarte)

10 carrots, peeled and roughly sliced into sticks
3 beetroots (raw not the cooked ones), peeled and chopped roughly
3 red onions, peeled and roughly chopped into wedges or 6 red onions type spring onion
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
Olive oil
salt & pepper
Handful of fresh parsley

1 packet of good quality puff pastry (yes, I do cheat. Can’t be a slave to your kitchen all the time)

Preheat the oven to 180°c. Mix together all the vegetables and garlic in a roasting tray. Season and drizzle generously with olive oil. Roast until tender (about 40minutes). Roll out the puff pastry and line the tart. Tip all the vegetables into the tart and bake for a further 30 minutes or until the puff pastry is puffed up. To serve drizzle with a little more olive oil and garnish with parsley. You could also crumble some feta or goat’s cheese on top to.

Recently I haven’t had much time to blog. Life has kind of been getting in the way, in a good way. Blogs are supposed to be about life. No life=no blog I guess. Anyway I happen to be very lucky to have a fellow foodie around the corner. If we’re not cooking or eating then we’ll be talking about food. Well, ok it’s not as nearly as bad as that.

A couple of weeks ago we decided to stage a “tart off” (like a “bake off”) although there was no real competition involved. It all kicked off with a trip to our local market to decide on the fillings. We needed two savoury and two sweet ideas. We took advantage with what was in season, deciding to do a mushroom tart, a pumpkin one and then going with two random ones: a fig and finally a sardine one.
So in the afternoon I set about teaching a couple of my friends the fine art of shortcrust pastry. The trick is to have “fairy fingers”, don’t overwork the pastry too much otherwise it becomes too tough and elastic which is the opposite of what you want.

After that I became more the sous chef in regards to the savoury pies. I let Shota do the savoury tarts: sardines with a green pesto and tomato base and a mushroom, shallot and herb tart… While I dealt with the pumpkin tart (roast the pumpkin, puree, add an egg, cream, nutmeg, cinammon and sugar…voilà) and the fig tart wish Shota so kindly said looked like open heart surgery (make up your own mind here).

Unfortunately when it came to photographing everything, my friends’ patience wouldn’t hold up to me taking half an hour styling, arranging, sorting out the light. Within minutes of setting down the tarts on the table, they were devoured with only a few crumbs remaining. Great compliment to the chefs, not so good for the shots.

Shortcrust pastry

200g flour
100g butter (very cold, cut into cubes)
4g salt
1 tsp of water (may need more depending on the flour)
1 egg

For the shortcrust pastry:
1. Sablage
Mix flour and salt add cubed butters. Rub flour mixture and butter together to create a breadcrumb texture. Make sure to work quickly. Add water and egg. Mix slightly.

2. Frasage
Turn out mixture onto clean surface (preferably a cool marble surface). Using the palm of your hand. Push a small amount of the mixture about 20cm along the surface of the table. Do this with all the dough. Repeat once or twice until the mixture has come together.

Chill dough for 30mins. Roll out to knife edge thickness and line already greased and floured tin. Prick base. Chill again for another 30mins. Meanwhile preheat oven to 160°c. Blindbake 20-30mins or until case is baked through.

Filling

250g chanterelle mushrooms (clean by using a pastry brush, do not wash the mushrooms. They’re like sponges and will soak up water, making them soggy)
1 shallot, finely copped
2 gloves of garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1 handful of parsley, chopped (reserve a bit for the garnish)
Salt & pepper

Mix together the ingredients, season with salt and pepper. Pile into the tart crust and bake at 160°c until the mushrooms are softened (about 15-20 minutes). Garnish with chopped parsley before serving.

Drum roll, please…here are the absolutely fantastic chocotastic entries for the Stop the Traffik chocolate competition. And what a range there has been. Each entry has had me licking my lips and going yum yum. Thanks to everyone who participated I’m truly impressed with all the effort everyone has made. If I’ve forgotten your entry or made an error, please let me know.

So start drooling over your keyboards (click on each image for the whole entry) and send me your votes to rkhooks@gmail.com by Tuesday 16th October.

P.S. Only one entry per person. I know you guys want to win the goodie bag

After getting myself into somebody’s bad books this week (let’s just say somethings just don’t translate well). I thought I’ld make something to keep him sweet. Chocolate always being a good solution (plenty of serotonin = feelings of pleasure) and raspberry tarts being his favourite dessert. I thought these might get me back in his good books…

For the sweet shortcrust pastry

100g flour
50g butter, very cold cut into cubes
2g salt
10g sugar
1 tbsp water
1/2 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence

Best made in a cool room a day before.

Raspberry coulis

250g fresh or defrosted raspberries
55g sugar
5 tablespoons of water

Dark chocolate mousse

150g dark chocolate (this best you can find)
150ml whipping cream
1 egg yolk

450g fresh raspberries

Fresh mint optional

4 small tartlette tins

Makes 4 tartelettes

For the sweet shortcrust pastry
1. Sablage
Mix flour and salt add cubed butters. Rub flour mixture and butter together to create a breadcrumb texture. Make sure to work quickly. Add sugar, water and egg. Mix slightly.

2. Frasage
Turn out mixture onto clean surface (preferably a cool marble surface). Using the palm of your hand. Push a small amount of the mixture about 20cm along the surface of the table. Do this with all the dough. Repeat once or twice until the mixture has come together.

Chill dough for 30mins. Roll out to knife edge thickness and line already greased and floured tins. Prick base. Chill again for another 30mins. Meanwhile preheat oven to 160°c. Blindbake 20-30mins or until cases are baked through.

Raspberry coulis
Place sugar and water in pan. Dissolve and then bring to boil for 2 minutes. Pour over raspberries. Then puree raspberries in food processor. Pass through a sieve to remove the seeds. Taste, add sugar if needed. Chill.

Dark chocolate mousse
Whip cream. Fold in egg yolk gently. Meanwhile melt chocolate over a ‘bain marie’. Before adding melted chocolate to whipped cream mixture, make sure it’s body temperature. Add a bit of whipped cream to the chocolate to loosen up mixture. Whip well. Then add all of the chocolate to cream. Fold gently and quickly. Spoon small amount of mixture into tartelette case. Add a teaspoon of raspberry coulis in the centre. Cover with mousse. Make a small mound. Place fresh raspberries on top. Chill for 4 hours.

To serve, remove tartlettes out of the fridge 30 minutes before. Pour some raspberry coulis over tartlette and garnish with mint leaves (optional).

On Wednesday I play nanny/cook. The family I work for had some leftover pastry in the fridge (the ready made stuff). So I thought a nice tart would go well with the homemade shepherd’s pie for dinner. The peaches are a nice addition but can be easily left out. Unfortunately there wasn’t much left to take a photo of.

Custard & Peach tart

1 tin of peaches, optional
1 portion of ready made shortcrust pastry
4 eggs
200ml single cream
200ml milk
140g caster sugar
1 tsp of vanilla essence
20g plain flour

25cm tart tin

Serves 6-8

Preheat oven at 200°c. Line tin and blind bake. Takes about 40 mins. Meanwhile bring milk, cream and vanilla to boil. Whisk sugar, flour and eggs together until creamy. When milk has started to boil add a little to the egg mixture, making sure you whisk continuously. Then add the egg mixture to the rest of milk (keep it on a low heat). Whisk until the custard becomes creamy and thick. Make sure the custard doesn’t burn on the bottom. Pour into pastry case. Place peaches on tart and bake for 30 – 40 minutes at 180°c. Or until the custard has set and taken on a golden brown colour. Serve warm or cold.

I’m officially living in the suburbs. Not quite Wysteria lane, but it’s cheap. My new flatmate invited the landlord and sister for dinner and I was asked to make dessert. Unfortunately my new place has no oven and I had no time this week. So with an hour to spare between coming home from work and dinner. I had to whip up something which wouldn’t dissapoint the French tastebuds. And here it is: a strawberry cinammon tart, fast food style. I found some very yummy, super crunchy cinnamon biscuits in the supermarket, if you don’t have them, add some powdered cinnamon. Don’t make this the night before the strawberries and mascapone will make this base go a bit soggy.

Strawberry cinnammon tart – Fast food style

70g butter, melted
150g biscuits, crushed
2 tsp cinnammon, optional
250g mascapone
2 x packets of vanilla sugar
500g strawberries or any other ‘berry’ type fruit you fancy, washed
1 x 20cm tart tin

Mix melted butter into crushed biscuits. Pour into tin and press firmly down with a cup/glass to make base. Whisk mascapone with sugar. Spread evenly on base. Slice straberries in half. Put on tart. Chill for at least 1hour. Take out of fridge 10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with sugar if the strawberries aren’t sweet enough.

Light fluffy almond cream filling topped off with some summer raspberries surrounded by a crisp shortcrust pastry… hmmmm, might be going overboard with the copy?

Anyhow, as the countdown is now on (exam day is this wednesday), you’ll be seeing plenty of different variations of tarts as I’m trying to perfect mine for the exam.

Been a bit quiet as I had another disaster with a Charlotte aux poires (pear mousse cake surrounded by a belt of sponge fingers). The mousse exploded out of the surrounding sponge fingers on it’s way home. It’s just toooooooo hot. So unfortunately it wasn’t blog worthy.

Well it’s exam time. I have a written exam today and in a couple of weeks I have my practical. We’re being tested on our short crust pastry aswell as another cake. Hence me making another tarte and I think by the result I’ll be making plenty more.

By the way this is a Peach tarte done in the style of the ‘Tarte aux Pommes’ only difference is that it has a coconut milk custard filling. Not a bad summer combo, if I dare say.