Title: Salted Chocolate Tart
Categories: Tarts
Yield: 1 Tart
MMMMM----------------------------BASE---------------------------------
10 oz Chocolate cookies (308 g, 2
-pkg); such as Oreos or
-Bourbons (28 total)
1 oz Dark chocolate (50 g);
-minimum 70% cocoa solids
1 oz Unsalted butter (50 g);
-softened
1/2 ts Smoked sea salt flakes (see
-tip section)
MMMMM--------------------------FILLING-------------------------------
3 oz Dark chocolate (100 g);
-minimum 70% cocoa solids
1 oz Corn flour (25 g)
4 tb Full-fat milk
18 oz Double cream (500 ml)
1 oz Cocoa powder (50 g); sieved
2 ts Instant espresso powder or
-strong instant coffee
-powder
2 oz Caster sugar (75 g)
1 ts Vanilla paste or extract
2 ts Extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 ts Smoked sea salt flakes
For the base, snap the biscuits into pieces and drop them into the
bowl of a food processor. Do likewise with the chocolate, then blitz
them together until you have crumbs. Add the butter and salt, and
blitz again until the mixture starts to clump together. If you're
doing this by hand, bash the biscuits in a freezer bag until they
form crumbs, finely chop the chocolate and melt the butter, then mix
everything, along with the salt, in a large bowl with a wooden spoon
or your hands encased in disposable vinyl gloves.
Press into your tart tin and pat down on the bottom and up the sides
of the tin with your hands or the back of a spoon, so that the base
and sides are evenly lined and smooth. Put into the fridge to harden
for at least 1 hour, or 2 hours if your fridge is stacked. I wouldn t
keep it for longer than a day like this as the crust tends to get too
crumbly.
For the filling, finely chop the chocolate. Put the corn flour into a
cup and whisk in the milk until smooth. (I find it easier to use cups
for the liquids in which case the milk measure is equivalent to an
American quarter cup, and you'll need 2 cups of cream.)
Pour the cream into a heavy-based saucepan into which all the
ingredients can fit and be stirred without splashing out of the pan,
then add the finely chopped rubble of chocolate, the sieved cocoa (or
just sieve it straight in), espresso or instant coffee powder, sugar,
vanilla paste or extract, olive oil, and smoked salt. Place over a
medium to low heat and whisk gently I use a very small whisk for
this, as I'm not aiming to get air in the mixture, I m just trying to
banish any lumpiness as the cream heats and the chocolate starts
melting.
Off the heat, whisk in the cornflour and milk mixture until it, too,
is smoothly incorporated, and put the pan back on a low heat. With a
wooden spoon, keep stirring until the mixture thickens, which it will
do around the 10-minute mark, but be prepared for it to take a few
minutes more or less. Take the pan off the heat every so often, still
stirring, so that everything melds together, without the cream coming
to a boil. When ready, it should be thick enough to coat the back of
a wooden spoon, and if you run your finger through it (across the
back of the spoon) the line should stay.
Pour into a wide measuring jug or batter jug (it should come to about
the 600 ml / 2 c mark). Now run a piece of baking parchment or
greaseproof paper under the cold tap, wring it out and place the
damp, crumpled piece right on top of the chocolate mixture, then put
the jug into the fridge for 15 minutes. The mixture will still be
warm, but will be the right temperature to ooze into the base without
melting it.
Pour and scrape the mixture into the biscuit-lined flan tin and put
back in the fridge overnight. Don t leave it longer than 24 hours, as
the base will start to soften.
Take out of the fridge for 10 minutes before serving, but unmould
straight away. Sit the flan tin on top of a large tin or jar and let
the ring part fall away, then transfer the dramatically revealed tart
to a plate or board. Leave the tin base on.
Slice modestly this is rich and sweet, and people can always come
back for more and serve with cr me fra che; the sharpness is just
right here. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for 4 to 5 days, but
the base will soften and the sides crumble a bit. That will not
detract from your eating pleasure too much, but I still like to give
it its first outing at optimal stage!
