Chocolate

Dark chocolate tart with pomegranate and pistachios

10-12

This recipe is the perfect way to embrace the health benefits of dark chocolate and the sweet taste of wildflower honey and fresh pomegranate. Inspired by the Middle East, where pomegranates grow freely, this rich and fragrant tart would be just right for a sophisticated dinner party and is packed full of beneficial antioxidants.

Ingredients

    For the pastry

    • 4 egg yolks
    • 200g plain flour
    • 30g cocoa powder
    • 115g butter
    • 115g icing sugar

    For the filling

    • 200g 85% cocoa organic dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
    • 2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
    • 300ml double cream
    • 50g butter
    • 50ml milk
    • 1 pomegranate, seeds
    • 100g pistachios (without shells)
    • 2 tbsp wildflower honey
    • Gold dust (optional)

    Method

    1. In a food processor, mix all the pastry ingredients together until they form a dough. Remove the mixture from the food processor and roll out onto a surface dusted with icing sugar. Line a 23cm loose-bottomed tart tin with the chocolate pastry, leaving excess around the edges, and place in the fridge for 1 hour.
    2. Then, 20 minutes before you take the pastry out of the fridge, preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6.
    3. With a fork, prick holes in the base of the pastry, then cover with baking parchment and fill with ceramic baking beans. Bake ‘blind’ for 15 minutes. Remove the baking parchment and beans from the pastry and return to the oven for another 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and run a knife along the top edge of the tart tin to remove the excess pastry and neaten the edges. Set aside to cool.
    4. Pour the cream and pomegranate molasses into a pan and bring to the boil over a gentle heat. The molasses will make the cream thicken – but keep stirring until it becomes smooth. As soon as the mixture comes to the boil, remove from the heat and add the butter and chocolate, stirring until melted. Add the milk and stir again until the mixture is shiny and silky. Pour the filling into the pastry case (still in its tin) and put aside to set.
    5. Put 40g of the pistachios into a small frying pan with the honey. Heat this mixture up, stirring occasionally to make sure the nuts are fully coated with honey. When the mixture begins to bubble and caramelise, remove from the heat and spread the nuts out on a baking tray – covered with grease-proof paper – to cool.
    6. When the tart is cool and the filling completely set, roughly chop the remaining 60g of pistachios and sprinkle over the top, followed by the cold honeyed pistachios and pomegranate seeds. Serve with a good dollop of Greek yoghurt and, to make it a real celebration, a sprinkling of gold dust.