Admittedly it has been a while since my last post. Unfortunately doing my finals meant time spent in the library rather than the kitchen (apart from the occasional stress baking session, which would bring much joy and happiness to friend who had not seen daylight or sleep for weeks). I returned home for summer with not only a new shiny degree certificate, but also a strong desire to get cooking again.
The blackcurrants shone from my Dad's fruit bushes, they looked promising. The problem with the blackcurrant is that it bitterly reminds me of cough treatment. Memories of a food with feelings of illness and nausea are tricky to overcome. So, faced with this problem I thought I would combine them with chocolate - which (if the scientists are to be believed) should spark feelings of love, happiness and general euphoria. The soft pear neutralises the sharpness of the blackcurrant, but I'm sure you could use any other fruit - raspberries could work wonders. Whether it was science or just superb skill we will never know, but this blackcurrant, pear and chocolate tart was quite simply scrummy.
Pastry Case
140g flour
70g butter - at room temp.
1 egg yolk (remember to keep the egg white as you will need it for the filling)
50g sugar
40g cocoa
Mix flour and butter with finger tips until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the cocoa and sugar and then bind with egg yolk. Refreigerate for 20 minutes before pressing into tart tin and blind baking for 15 - 20 minutes.
For the filling
400g of blackcurrants and pears, or your fruit of choice, peeled, and cut.
Icing sugar
50g butter
50g sugar
50g ground almonds
50g dark chocolate
2 eggs, seperated, plus the left over egg white from the pastry.
Coat fruit liberally in icing sugar. Arrange in baked pastry case
Heat butter, sugar, almonds and chocolate over simmering water until melted and smooth.
Remove from the heat, allow to cool and add the two egg yolks
Whisk the egg whites in a seperate bowl until they are stiff and form peaks. Fold in the chocolate mixture.
Pour over the fruit in the pastry case and bake at 180 C for 20 minutes or until firm and spongy to the touch.
Best served cold with a dollop of cream or greek yoghurt. If only cough medicine tasted like this...
