Orphaned tart

The thing I miss most when traveling is cooking. The kitchen is my magic place where I unwind, I love the sense of accomplishment when something good comes out the hard labor. One the day I landed I decided to bake. With no much enthusiasm to go out, and little in the pantry I just managed to rustle enough ingredients to make a chocolate tart. To be honest banana bread was what I really wanted, the orphan tart was given to my neighbour in exchange for a huge smile. Ahh! It feels good to be baking again.

Ingredients

• 200gms sweet shortcrust pastry  *store bought is fine.
• 200gms dark chocolate or 100gms milk and 100gms dark * I used Green and Black’s 70% Dark Organic.
• 300mls cream
• 40gms unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Crust

1. On a lightly floured board roll out pastry and use to line a 20cm pie plate or flan ring, prick the base of the pastry with a fork all over.
2. Bake blind at 200 degrees C for 15 minutes and remove baking blind material. Return pastry shell to oven for 1 minute to dry out pastry base, remove from oven and let cool completely.

1. Heat the 200ml cream on simmer in a heavy bottom pan until bubbles begin to form on the edges. Combine the chocolate and butter stir using a whisk the until the butter and chocolate have melted completely. Add the remaining the cream and vanilla, mix until well incorporated and thick.
2. Cool to room temperature, whisk again and pour into the cooled tart shell and chill for at least 4-5 hours before serving. The longer you wait for the chocolate to set the better, I prefer having it sit overnight.
3. Garnish with freshly sliced strawberries,bananas, or crushed peanuts just before serving.