To Tanzania ~ With Love

Our little Miss KH will be heading off for a year or two in Tanzania this time next week. Continuing in the tradition of sending her off around the world with a full tum (when she went to Australia we gave her a full Scottish meal of Veggie Haggis, Neeps, Tatties and Rhubarb Crumble) we had a surprise barbie for her tonight, the weather even played along with us which is always a bonus.

To round off the meal was a Chocolate Tart which had proved very problematic the first time I tried to make it, the pastry just never wanted to be made into a tart, if it didn't solidify to the tart tin base then it stuck to the bottom of the greaseproof paper when I tried to blind bake it - disaster! The filling, however, can be saved and turned into a rather nice fondue, just in case you ever need to know! This time round I ditched the shortcrust pastry as described in the recipe and stuck with the tried and tested Rachel Allen Shortcrust Pastry (please excuse the quality of the photos - Pimms had been consumed!)

Rachel's Sweet Shortcrust Pastry
200g plain flour, sifted
1 tbsp icing sugar
100g chilled butter, cubed
1/2 - 1 medium egg, beaten

Place the flour, icing sugar and butter in a food processor and whiz briefly. Add half the beaten egg and continue to whiz. I find I need to add nearly all the egg before its just moist enough to come together in a ball.

With your hands, flatten out the ball of dough until it is about 2cm thick then wrap in clingfilm and leave in the fridge for at least 30 mins or, if you are pushed for time, in the freezer for 10-15 mins.

Makes 400g
Taken from Rachel Allen's 'Bake'

Milk Chocolate Tart

400g shortcrust pastry
Double cream or ice cream, to serve
Filling
250g milk chocolate, broken into pieces
1 cup double cream
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Pimms Strawberries
Strawberries, hulled (I used a punnet for 4 of us and have lots left over)
2 tbsp icing sugar
2 tbsp Pimms

Roll pastry between 2 sheets of cling film to a 35cm round. Use to line the base and sides of a 3cm deep, 25cm (base) loose based flan pan. Refrigerate for 30 mins (I was a bit pressed for time and skipped this step but the pastry didn't seem to be any the worse for it). Preheat oven to 180C.

Make filling; place chocolate, cream and sugar into a heatproof bowl. Sit over a pan of simmering water (make sure the bowl doesn't touch the water) and stir until melted and smooth. Allow to cool. Stir in the eggs.

Line pastry with baking paper. Cover base with raw rice. Bake for 15 mins. Remove rice and paper. Cook pastry for a further 10 mins, or until golden and cooked through. Reduce oven to 170C.

Remove pastry from oven. Pour filling into pastry case. Bake for 30 mins, or until just set. Set aside to cool.

Make Strawberries; place strawberries, icing sugar and Pimms in a bowl. Toss gently to combine. Stand for 15 mins. Serve tart with strawberries and cream for adults or with plain strawberries and ice cream for kids.

Serves 8

Not 100% sure where I got the original recipe from, have a feeling it could have been http://www.taste.com.au/

Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a photo of the tart all nicely sliced and covered with strawberries and softly whipped cream (probably wouldn't have done it justice even I have had though) but it was goooooooooooooooooood!