Nika's Culinaria - Eat With Your Eyes

(Mango Apple compotes in pastry shells © 2006 Nika)

Today Q is going to show you all how she made these Mango Apple compotes in pastry shells. You may wonder what a compote is. According to the Wikipedia, a compote is:

.. a dessert made of fruit cooked in sugar syrup.

We took it a bit further and put the sauted fruit into pastry shells that had been filled with vanilla pudding.

Ingredients:
1 Mango
1 Apple
1 container Vanilla Pudding (it would be even better if you made your own homemade pudding. Thats another post, as Alton Brown would say)
3 Pastry shells (We used the pre-fabricated pastry shells from Pepperidge Farms. They are great and work every time. You can also make them yourself!)
Minced ginger
1/8th teaspoon real Vanilla
4 tablespoons butter (If not salted, add a pinch of salt to the cooked fruit.)


(Mango Apple compote ingredients © 2006 Nika)


(Close up of frozen pastry shell from Pepperidge Farms © 2006 Nika)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 F.
Line a baking sheet with some parchment paper and stick it down to the sheet with a bit or water or cooking spray.
Bake as per package instructions. Make sure to watch them so that they do not get too brown.
Remove and allow to cool.


(Pastry shells ready for the oven © 2006 Nika)


(Baked pastry shells © 2006 Nika)

Cut out the central part to make the cup to receive your filling.


(Cutting out central party of pastry shell © 2006 Nika)

Cube mango and apple. You are going to cook these two fruits seperately. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter to a small pot over medium heat. Add mango, 1/8 teaspoon of minced ginger, and 2 tablespoons of white sugar. Cook until it has dehydrated a bit and the sugar is starting to thicken the fruit juices. Cool. Repeat with the apple but use vanilla and no ginger. Cool.


(Cubing the fruit © 2006 Nika)

Put some vanilla pudding on the bottom of each pastry shell and then add the cooked fruit. Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint.
Enjoy!


(Q finishing off the Mango Apple dessert © 2006 Nika)


(Q chopping the fruit and posing © 2006 Nika)


(Q is watched by her little sister and brother. The cat got in on the act too.
© 2006 Nika)


(Here we can see the audience a bit better © 2006 Nika)