In a break from my normal practice I am lifting this recipe straight out of Jamie Oliver's new book, "Cook with Jamie". Why? Well, for one thing it's delicious. The real reason though is that I have added an extra ingredient, pomegranate molasses, which transforms it into something sublime. A further reason is to correct an error in the book. Jamie, usually pretty reliable, must have had his mind elsewhere when he wrote up the quantities in this recipe. This was the first recipe in the book that I had tried and I felt fairly sceptical when, for the purposes of lining an 11" tart tin, the pastry required 1.25 lbs flour + 11.5 oz butter plus various other ingredients. I went ahead and did as I was told though. Who am I to question Jamie Oliver? I ended up with a ball of pastry the size of a baby's head. Enough to fill my 11" tart tin twice over, let alone lining it. At least I've now got enough for a couple more tarts in the fridge. I halved the quantities given for the filling, and that turned out about right. So here's the sane version:
For the Pastry:
160gms Butter
110gms Caster Sugar
Pinch of Salt
280gms Plain Flour
2 Eggs
30gms Cocoa Powder
For the Filling
100ml Milk
280ml Double Cream
30gms Caster Sugar
175gms Dark Chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
1 Egg
3-4Tbsps Pomegranate Molasses
Grease an 11" tart tin. Cream the butter, sugar & salt then fold in the flour. eggs and cocoa powder. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and refrigerate (is this really necessary?) for an hour, then roll it out and line your tart tin with it. Put it in the freezer for half an hour (another step I would be happy to omit).
Preheat your oven to 180C then cook the pastry base for 12 - 15 minutes. Leave to cool.
Meanwhile put the milk, cream and sugar into a pan and gently bring to the boil, stirring. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate broken into bits. Whisk smooth, then add the pomegranate molasses and the egg and whisk again. Pour this into the pastry shell and cook the whole lot for 15 minutes at 170C.
Pomegranate and chocolate: you heard it here first.
J.O. phrases it differently and doubtless better, but you'll have to buy the book for his version.
