Chocolate, Pear & Ginger Tart

This is another recipe from the Green & Blacks book. I’m always a little nervous about pastry and blind baking but this is a great recipe and it turned out well. The only issue was the oven temperature I think it needed to be higher than they recommend (of course all ovens vary) and so it baked for a little too long which dried the pears out a bit. I’ll know for next time though, it’s definitely one I’d make again, it looks impressive and tastes great but is less tricky than it appears.

Pastry:
250g plain flour
1 tsp salt
110g Unsalted b utter
2 large egg yolks
4-5 tbsp water

Filling:
125g unsalted butter
125g caster sugar
2 large eggs
100g dark chocolate (minimum 60 % cocoa solids)
1 dsp finely chopped preserved ginger in syrup
25g plain flour
125g ground almonds
4 just ripe pears
apricot jam to glaze

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Make the pastry – sift the flour and salt in a large bowl, cut in the butter and rub into the flour with your fingertips until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. In a small bowl whisk together the yolks and the cold water briefly then add to the mixture. Mix until they come together as a ball, wrap the dough in greaseproof paper and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes before rolling out to line you tin. Bake the pastry blind by covering it with greaseproof baber and filling with baking beans (dried kidney beans in my case) for about 15-20 minutes or until it’s a light golden colour. Remove the pastry and lower the heat to 160 (I may have only lowered it marginally at the stage, on reflection).

Make the filling – cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, beat the eggs and slowly add to the mix. Melt the chocolate over simmering water, allow to cool for a few minutes before adding to the mix with the ginger. Mix in the flour and almonds and leave to cool before spreading over the pastry base.

Halve, peel and core the pears. Slice into wedges and arrange in a fan shape on top of the chocolate mix, pressing lightly. Bake for around 30-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Brush with apricot jam while still hot.

I served it as they suggest with simple chocolate sauce – evil!
100g dark choc (as above)
125ml double or whipping cream
10g unsalted butter
Melt the chocolate with the cream in a heat-proof bowl over simmering water, stirring frequently. Once the chocolate has melted add the butter and serve warm… With everything!