I was watching Raymond Blancs' latest tv show The Very Hungry Frenchman recently and he made an amazing chocolate ganache tart with a crumble base and butterscotch sauce - I wanted to make something similar, but not a replica as I didn't have enough time for Raymonds extras. So I searched around internetland and found a recipe on a blog that caught my eye. A chocolate ganache tart that used an almond pastry shell - which requires you to melt the butter, yes -a pastry that requires you to apply heat to it -mon dieu! The recipe is from a blog called COOK, a oui chef journal by Connie. In the end I combined Raymonds filling with Connies pastry base...although I tweaked both a little. The base seemed to have a tonne of butter -8 tbsps (!!) so I played it by ear with the butter. My tart dish was too small so I reduced the filling to avoid overflow, that's why the base is so thick compared to the filling -so make sure to use a 9 inch tart dish and then increase the volume of the filling...sorry if this is complicated... I will give the recipe according to a 9 inch tart dish and you will have a thinner base. The result was very delicious, a smack of dark chocolate and a lovely crumbly, buttery base.

Waiting for the tart to set

For the base;

Turn your oven on to 180'C/Gas 4
In a pan over a medium heat melt 6 dstps of butter
Gease a 9 inch tart dish
In a bowl combine 1 cup of plain white flour sieved, 1/3 cup icing sugar & 3 tbsp of ground almonds
When the butter has melted slowly pour into your dry ingredients using a fork
When the mixture has formed large crumbs take a 9 inch tart or flan dish and press the 'pastry' evenly into the dish, bringing it up the sides to form an edge, bake in oven for 18-20 mins or until very lightly golden, allow to cool once cooked

Pour in your ganache filling

For the filling;

In a saucepan over a medium heat add 165ml of whipping cream & 1/3 cup caster sugar, bring to a boil (if you use a chocolate with low cocoa solids don't add the sugar)
Break in 180g dark chocolate (80%) and whisk it up to ensure they combine properly, remove from heat
In a separate bowl whisk up 1 egg & 5 tbsp milk, add a little bit of the chocolate mixture to the egg, to bring up the temperature, then add the egg mixture into the chocolate
Pour into your cooled pastry shell, when the heat has gone from the filling place your tart in the fridge for at least 2 hours, serve solo or with a scoop of good vanilla or hazelnut ice-cream


Enjoy with a nice cuppa!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFGCZZV4dxs&feature=endscreen&NR=1
Old Cadbury Flake advert ...don't forget to pack your Flake when going to the jungle...