A bit of wow factor in this dessert that comes together to be way more than the sum of it’s parts. Basically it’s a shortcrust pastry tart with some class of a cheesecake filling but when done right it is seriously impressive.
You will need the following
For the Filling:
6 of the freshest, free range eggs you can find (technically they ain’t going to be cooked so make sure you trust the eggs you buy)
1 large bar of white chocolate
1 good quality vanilla pod
4 oz sugar
6 oz water
For the Base:
It works best if you make your own shortcrust but if you have to be lazy I guess you could use shop bought stuff.
6 oz plain flour
4 oz butter
3 oz castor sugar
2 egg yolks
juice from about an inch of fresh ginger that you have crushed and squeezed
For the Rhubarb:
6 large stalks of rhubarb
Stock syrup made with equal measures of water and sugar boiled until sugar dissolves (if you want to you can add the remains of the squeezed ginger to the syrup while cooking but remember to remove before use)
Utensils
Circular loose based tart tin (bout 9 – 10 in)
Allow a good long afternoon to make this dish as there is quite a lot of resting time.
Sieve the flour and sugar into a wide bowl. Chop lumps of chilled butter into the bowl. Rub the flour, sugar, and butter together until they resemble bread crumbs. Add ginger juice and one egg yolk. Draw mixture into a ball. If it is a still dry add a little more egg yolk. Once pastry comes together in a ball place it on the counter and roll it under the palm of your hand. It should stick to neither the counter or your hand but should hold its shape and appear shiny. Cover tightly with cling film and refrigerate.
Now we move onto the filling. Bring sugar and water to the boil in a pan with half a vanilla pod. Meanwhile beat 6 egg yolks in a magimix until they are pale and thicken. When sugar and water have reached the thread stage, remove vanilla pod and add the mixture to the egg yolks slowly continuing to beat egg yolks as you go. When all the sugar is added increase speed of magimix and meat sugar, water, and egg yolks until they have puffed up and look mouse like. About 15 minutes on high speed is good.
Meanwhile melt the white chocolate over a pan of simmering water. When melted, remove from the heat and add some of the mouse mixture to the white chocolate. Stir it in well. Now add the white chocolate mixture slowly to the remaining mouse, folding it in thoroughly. This mixture follows the same method as custard based ice cream but should be a bit thicker due to the number of egg yolks and quantity of white chocolate.
Place mixture in a wide bowl and refrigerate. Check every half and hour, folding gently to make sure chocolate does not fall to the bottom.
Now we bake the pastry. Roll out pastry until about 1/4 in thick. Butter the tart tin and line with rolled pastry and put aside any unused pastry to freeze for another day. Place circle of baking paper above pastry and fill with baking beans. The baking beans will act as a weight on top of the pastry ensuring an even cook. Place into a preheated oven (180 c) and bake for 20 minutes, give or take a few minutes.
Remove from over, allow to cool slightly, remove baking paper and baking beans and allow cool fully.
Now we make the rhubarb.
In a shallow pan lay 3 in pieces of rhubarb flat and cover with stock syrup. Poach until cooked. Remove, place in magimix. Blitz until smooth adding cooking liquid to thin. The finished rhubarb should coat the back of a spoon and taste a little bit too bitter to eat by itself. As usual a squeeze of lemon works a treat if you’ve overdone it with the sugar.
Line the base of you cooked tart tin with a thin layer of rhubarb sauce. Reserve the rest in a squeezy bottle. Place tart in fridge for about 45 mins. Remove and spoon white chocolate mixture into the tart until full. Refrigerate for up to 3 hours. Cut with a warm knife and serve with rhubarb sauce.
There are a few ways to make this up. Get creative and add gelatin to the rhubarb sauce. Line the tart base with alternate layers of rhubarb and white chocolate allowing about 1 hour per layer setting time. Serve with a mix of orange zest and soft brown sugar. Badass
TheWholeHogFoodBlog's Blog 