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Nigella's Salted chocolate tart

Ingredients

For the base

2 x 154g/5 oz packets chocolate cookies, such as Oreos or Bourbons(28 small

biscuits in all)

50g/1 oz dark chocolate (min. 70% cocoa solids)

50g/1 oz unsalted butter, softened

tsp smoked sea salt flakes (see tip section)

For the filling

100g/3 oz dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)

25g/1oz cornflour

4 tbsp full-fat milk

500ml/18fl oz double cream

50g/1 oz cocoa powder, sieved

2 tsp instant espresso powder or strong instant coffee powder

75g/2 oz caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla paste or extract

2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

tsp smoked sea salt flakes

Method

For the base, snap the biscuits into pieces and drop them into the bowl of a

food processor. Do likewise with the chocolate, then blitz them together until

you have crumbs. Add the butter and salt, and blitz again until the mixture

starts to clump together. If you re doing this by hand, bash the biscuits in a

freezer bag until they form crumbs, finely chop the chocolate and melt the

butter, then mix everything, along with the salt, in a large bowl with a wooden

spoon or your hands encased in disposable vinyl gloves.

Press into your tart tin and pat down on the bottom and up the sides of the tin

with your hands or the back of a spoon, so that the base and sides are evenly

lined and smooth. Put into the fridge to harden for at least 1 hour, or 2 hours

if your fridge is stacked. I wouldn t keep it for longer than a day like this

as the crust tends to get too crumbly.

For the filling, finely chop the chocolate. Put the cornflour into a cup and

whisk in the milk until smooth. (I find it easier to use cups for the liquids

in which case the milk measure is equivalent to an American quarter cup, and

you ll need 2 cups of cream.)

Pour the cream into a heavy-based saucepan into which all the ingredients can

fit and be stirred without splashing out of the pan, then add the finely

chopped rubble of chocolate, the sieved cocoa (or just sieve it straight in),

espresso or instant coffee powder, sugar, vanilla paste or extract, olive oil

and smoked salt. Place over a medium to low heat and whisk gently I use a

very small whisk for this, as I m not aiming to get air in the mixture, I m

just trying to banish any lumpiness as the cream heats and the chocolate

starts melting.

Off the heat, whisk in the cornflour and milk mixture until it, too, is

smoothly incorporated, and put the pan back on a low heat. With a wooden spoon,

keep stirring until the mixture thickens, which it will do around the 10-minute

mark, but be prepared for it to take a few minutes more or less. Take the pan

off the heat every so often, still stirring, so that everything melds together,

without the cream coming to a boil. When ready, it should be thick enough to

coat the back of a wooden spoon, and if you run your finger through it (across

the back of the spoon) the line should stay.

Pour into a wide measuring jug or batter jug (it should come to about the 600ml

/1 pint mark). Now run a piece of baking parchment or greaseproof paper under

the cold tap, wring it out and place the damp, crumpled piece right on top of

the chocolate mixture, then put the jug into the fridge for 15 minutes. The

mixture will still be warm, but will be the right temperature to ooze into the

base without melting it.

Pour and scrape the mixture into the biscuit-lined flan tin and put back in the

fridge overnight. Don t leave it longer than 24 hours, as the base will start

to soften.

Take out of the fridge for 10 minutes before serving, but unmould straight

away. Sit the flan tin on top of a large tin or jar and let the ring part fall

away, then transfer the dramatically revealed tart to a plate or board. Leave

the tin base on.

Slice modestly this is rich and sweet, and people can always come back for

more and serve with cr me fra che; the sharpness is just right here.

Leftovers will keep in the fridge for 4 5 days, but the base will soften and

the sides crumble a bit. That will not detract from your eating pleasure too

much, but I still like to give it its first outing at optimal stage!

Recipe Tips

I think the hit of salt is crucial: it subtly counters the richness of all the

chocolate, so even if you don t normally go in for the sweet and salty combo,

don t be tempted to leave it out. Halve the amount of salt, if you must.