April 2nd, 2010

(a.long.way.to) chocolate+strawberry tart

I wanted to make that delicious chocolate and raspberry tart from Michel Roux. And ended up with my kind (but still delicious) of chocolate and strawberry tartlets.

Because.

When I went to my usual shop for grocery shopping, I have problem finding the two important ingredients for this tart: the dark chocolate and raspberry…of course I can NOT make a chocolate and raspberry tart without the chocolate and raspberry themselves.

So.

I switched to a serious ingredients hunting mode. And I found this:

1. Looking badly at many many local supermarket for finding that 200 grams of good quality dark chocolate = Impossible!

2. At the baking shop: only greeted by arrays of scary (a.k.a chemical) looking chocolate block = I will not put that in my stomach

3. At the import/specialty supermarket = Found one…kind of…for Rp. 48.000 for 100g = 4 euros = Not gonna pay that much for a chocolate that actually costs only 1 euro in Milan.

4. A pack of raspberry (100 grams) cost around Rp. 70.000 = Almost 6 euros = errrr….only when I was desperate for raspberry and only Peck in Milan had it that I ever paid that much for a pack of raspberry = No!

*Sigh…I never thought it would be this complicated only to make a tart. but since I have already make the tart dough (which was sitting restlessly in my fridge), there is no way I would give up making chocolate tart, so I tried to make it with dutch press cocoa powder (which comes in the cutest packaging) and bought a kilo of strawberry instead.

I arrived at home, winning smile on my face, and I just realised: no mixer yet in my new house…Al.Most.Give.Up…but NO. I am going to make this. So I decided to ignore the whole recipe all together, and making it my own way: much simpler and lighter :)

Here it is, I am sharing it with you. It was great. Yum. We had it for breakfast. after lunch. after dinner. late night for three days in a row. Great!

Chocolate and Strawberry Tart

Makes 9 of 12 cm tart molds

Pastry:

80g unsalted butter, chopped

110g rice flour

1 kampung egg

60g plain flour

20g corn starch

pinch of sea salt

2 tbsp brown sugar

3 tbsp cold milk or water

Crumble with hand the chopped butter, plain flour, rice flour, corn starch, salt and sugar until it resembles bread crumbs, add the egg, mix well, then add the milk, mix until the dough form a ball. Cover with cling film and put in the fridge for 2 hours or leave overnight (if you leave it overnight, don’t forget to bring it to room temperature before you roll it)

Preheat the oven to 180C. Roll the pastry and place it over the molds. Make some small holes on the bottom of the pastry and weight them with beans. Bake for 15 minutes or till golden. Let cool and set aside.

Chocolate cream:

3 tablespoons dutch processed cocoa powder

3 tablespoons sugar

500 ml milk

2 tablespoons corn starch

Mix the cocoa+sugar+corn starch with a little milk, until well combined and smooth, add the rest of the milk. Transfer to a sauce pan, bring to boil with low heat, stirring continuously. When the chocolate cream thickens, remove from heat.

Other ingredients:

9 tablespoons strawberry jam

Loads of fresh strawberry

Honey for drizzling

Add a tablespoon of strawberry jam and spread it on the bottom of every tart shells. Add the cream, and leave 5mm space from the top for the fresh strawberry. Chill until ready to serve. Just before serving, slice the strawberry to small pieces (or as you like it) and add on the top of the tart and drizzle with honey.

Filed under: food, sweet tooth