Monday, November 3, 2008

You Want Pies with That? Fashion Statement


This month’s theme for “You Want Pies with That” is Pies as a Fashion Statement. Gosh, I did find this quite a hard theme. I had a few ideas, but after my sisters bought me a huge punnet of strawberries up from the Hawkes Bay, I went with my very first idea. When I was little my Mum made me a dress from material that I chose myself. The dress was yellow gingham with little strawberries dotted all over it. It was sleeveless with red bias binding round the sleeves and two patch pockets with bias binding across the top of them. I loved that dress and I still love it – in fact I still have it! Unfortunately it is packed away, so I couldn’t photograph it for my blog.



So, my fashion statement pie resembles my favourite dress! I made lemon and passionfruit tarts with strawberries on top. The yellow of course representing the yellow gingham. I made the tart crusts from Dorie Greenspan’s recipe for sweet shortcrust pastry, but you could buy ready made. The lemon and passionfruit curd is a perfect combination of sweet and tart. I made 8 cm tarts, but you could make one big one or even mini tarts in mini muffin tins. These tarts sing of summer and they really do remind me of my favourite dress! The fabric in the background is actually similar to my yellow dress - it is my favourite apron - I bought the fabric to make it beacuse it reminded me of my favourite dress!!



My favourite Dress Tarts

· Line six 8cm tart tins with shortcrust pastry, prick the bottoms and freeze. Bake from frozen for 15 minutes at 180c
· When cool, fill the tart cases with lemon and passionfruit curd (recipe follows) then top with sliced strawberries
Lemon and Passionfruit Curd

½ c sugar
½ c passionfuit pulp
juice of 5 lemons
6 egg yolks
200g butter

combine all ingredients in a small pot and warm over a low heat, continually whisking until smooth – don’t let the mixture boil. Cool before storing in the fridge.

15 comments:

PheMom said...

I think I would have loved that little dress too! Those little pies sure look darling! Thanks so much for entering and rising to the challenge. Looks great to me!

Mary Ann said...

You did a great job with this challenge! Way better than me. So creative. I would love to see the dress and these little tarts look absolutely fab!

The Food Librarian said...

Wonderful! So cute. Passionfruit is one of my favorite fruits of all time. Sounds soooo yummy!

Anne said...

What cute tarts and a fun tribute to your favorite dress- I love it!

Anonymous said...

PASSION FRUIT CURD! AH! My favorite. I am a passion fruit fanatic. These are so cute!

Lauren said...

what a great inspiration and what great looking tarts!! yum!!

Megan said...

What a sweet story - and I can just imagine the dress!

I've never had passionfruit before, but I am very curious to know what it tastes like!

Gabi said...

What a sweet pie! I love that you relate it back to your favourite dress- I still pine for some of my girlhood frocks.
xo

Cakelaw said...

Awww, so cute! I love the yellow and red together - definitely a cheery fashion statement.

Susie Homemaker said...

I can just picture this dress! I love this idea - gorgeous and creative!

Anonymous said...

Oh, what an adorable idea! And the little tarts are so pretty. Good job!

Alpineberry Mary said...

I totally can see "gingham" in your little tarts. Yummy!

Anonymous said...

I made my darling daughter a dress like that some 30years ago ,it brings back wonderful memories.The pies look so good,you are very creative.

Anonymous said...

Griffyn said I wish Aunty Tammy would make me some when she comes at Chirstmas. They look delicious!!!!

Heather B said...

Great job on the challenge! It looks so delicious!