CHOCOLATE TART by Halina

For the Chocolate Pastry:

(Jami Oliver recipe)
4 oz/120 gr butter

1/3 cup sugar

    1 1/2 cups plain flour

    1 egg

    3 generous tbs cocoa powder

    a shallow non-stick removable flan pan

Let's make the pastry shell:

- Melt butter and sugar in a roomy saucepan. Take it off the heat as soon as it melts.  Keep stirring till the mixture is well combined and becomes thick and creamy.  As you keep stirring, it will lose the look of being oily.

- toss in the flour and cocoa powder. The mixture will clump together like breadcrumbs.

- Add in the beaten egg and combine. Don't over work the dough to keep the texture short and crumbly. Overworked pastry becomes plastic and hard.

- Put it in a clean plastic bag and pop this in the freezer for about 45 minutes to an hour so that it is cold but not frozen. If it looks like it will be frozen, take it out and put the bag towards the back of the fridge where it is coldest.

- Preheat the oven to 350F/180C.

- Roll the chilled dough out on a lightly floured board and line a non-stick removable flan pan. Use a flan pan where the base can be lifted away from the walls.

- Prick it all over and put the pastry lined flan pan back in the fridge for half an hour.

- Bake blind for 15 minutes.

To make the chocolate filling, you'll need:

- 1/4 cup sugar

- 6 oz/180 gr dark chocolate ( with 70% cocoa solids)

- 1/4 c milk

- 3/4 c double cream

- 1 egg

Put the filling together while the pastry is baked blind:

- In a sauce pan, melt together the chocolate and sugar. Add a little of the milk to help make the mixture a little runny

- Once melted, take it off the heat and stir in the remainder of the milk and all the cream.

- Stir in the beaten egg.  You'll see it is a beautiful, thick, smooth chocolate liquid.

- Once the pastry is baked, allow it to cool a little and pour in this chocolate filling. Take care, to fill to just below the brim to avoid spills in handling the pie. 

- Bake at 170F for 30 minutes.  The baked chocolate filling will be just slightly wobbly but that's fine. Chocolate will continue to cook after it's been taken out of the oven.

- Allow the tart to cool and place in the fridge until it is ready to be served with large dollops of whipped thickened cream.