Chocolate Caramel Triple Nut Tart and I’m a Finalist on food52 this week!

Everyone needs their share of chocolate-y goodness.  We all crave that pick me up that only chocolate can give us.  I’ve had a hacking cough for the past week.  When I say hacking, I feel like a barking dog or howling wolf as I try to clear the congestion in my throat.  The cold weather up here in Canada can be brutal.  Earlier this week it was -17 F, arctic tundra temperatures in my books.

Now, I am getting back to my normal routine after being sick and the first real thing I wanted to make is a chocolate tart of some sort.  Getting over a cold is something to celebrate, right?  And celebrate I did…with chocolate.  I dug into my “good” chocolate stash that I pick up every time I go back to the States because it is hard for me to find it in Kingston, and if I do it’s more expensive.  So, I am guilty of some cross-border chocolate smuggling.  If the Immigration Officer asks about food, I do say, chocolate and I usually get a smirk.  Let me tell you, I have seen some strange foodstuffs being examined at the Immigration-Customs area, but I don’t want any of you to lose your appetites.

This chocolate tart won’t make you lose your appetite, it is layered with a nutty caramel.  I used flaky puff pastry as a base.  I love the combination of chocolate, caramel, and nuts.  Therefore, I did some experimenting and came up with this recipe.  It is relatively easy, so if you are pressed for time, it might serve as a good option.  Translation: if you need chocolate within 1 hour, this will work for you.

I also wanted to mention that I am a finalist for the food52 contest, “Your Best Salad with Apples.”  I am extremely flattered and honored to be chosen as a finalist and recommend any of you who like to challenge yourself and meet a very supportive community to join.  It’s great fun to come up with a recipe suited to each week’s contest.  I made a “Shades of Green Chopped Salad.”  Feel free to check it out and check out the other finalist, whose salad looks fabulous.  Voting ends next week, so I will let you know if I win.  Either way, I’m thrilled to be a finalist.

Chocolate Caramel Triple Nut Tart

(I made something similar before, pictured here)

Serves 6

Ingredients

for the nutty caramel:

1 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon water

6 tablespoons butter, softened

1 tablespoon heavy cream

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup of chopped mixed nuts, I used almonds, pecans, and walnuts

pinch of kosher salt

for the chocolate:

6 ounces good-quality 70% dark chocolate, chopped

2 ounces good-quality semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoons butter, softened

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 eggs, at room temperature

crust:

7 ounce piece of puff pastry, thawed in the refrigerator overnight, if frozen

garnish:

fleur de sel, I love it, my husband hates salt in his desserts, but I usually win.

extra chopped nuts, optional

whipped cream or ice cream, optional

Method

Make the caramel first by heating a small saucepan on medium heat.  Add in the brown sugar and water and mix with a rubber spatula.  Keep stirring the sugar until it starts to melt and, about 5 minutes.  Once melted, mix in the butter and allow it to form a caramel.  Make sure the sugar is dissolved.  Turn the heat up slightly and let the caramel bubble.  Be very careful as to not let the caramel splatter or burn you.  After about 2 minutes, turn down the heat to low and add in the heavy cream and vanilla extract.  Mix in the nuts and turn the heat off and sprinkle the caramel with a tiny pinch of salt.  Allow the caramel to cool while you melt the chocolate.

Over a double-boiler (use a heat-safe bowl) on medium heat, melt the chocolate (both kinds) together.  Once melted fold in the butter so that the chocolate becomes glossy.  Take the bowl off the heat and mix in the vanilla extract.  Beat the 2 eggs in another bowl and whisk in a little of the warm chocolate into the eggs so that they won’t scramble when you add them to the larger bowl of chocolate, i.e. temper the eggs.  Once you have tempered the eggs, fold them into the chocolate so that they are well mixed in.  Set aside.

Roll out the puff pastry so that it will fit a 9 inch tart pan with a removable bottom.  I rolled it about 1 inch bigger than the pan so I could create a sort of rustic, messy look for the crust.  If you prefer a neater look, that’s fine as well.

Once the puff pastry is properly in the tart pan, layer the nutty caramel on the bottom in an even layer.  Then smooth the chocolate over the caramel.  If you rolled out the puff pastry larger than the pan, then fold over the edges, sort of like a galette.  Brush the exposed pastry with some milk.  Put the tart in the fridge for 10-15 minutes so that it sets.

At this point, preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

After 15 minutes, bake the tart in the oven for 30 minutes or until the puff pastry turns light golden brown.  When you remove the tart from the oven, let it sit for 15 minutes because the caramel will be a little gooey.  If you prefer it to be gooey, eat it straight from the oven!  Sprinkle a little fleur de sel over the top, if you wish.  Serve with any of the above mentioned garnishes, if desired.

*After baking, you can put the tart in the fridge for 15 minutes as well.

Using our Sense of Taste to Collect Flavors–Afghani Pulao

When I moved to Montreal for my Master’s degree I was introduced to Persian and Afghani restaurants.  The flavors were familiar yet different.  They were not spicy like traditional Pakistani fare but indeed quite flavorful and had many layers of subtle spice.

Coming back to my Persian Chicken Kebab story, I needed to make some to go alongside it and I was reminded of the Afghani rice I used to eat quite often in Montreal.  Recalling its flavors I pondered on how to go about making it.  A challenge if you will.  I could have easily gone on to Google typed “Afghani Pulao” and instantly a recipe would appear.  But, I wanted to use my palette, my sense of taste to decipher the ingredients of this dish.

We often take our sense of taste for granted.  What would we be without it?  It’s like being blind or deaf, it is the lack of a vital sense.  Loving all things food related, I could not even begin to imagine what it would be like not to taste.  This brings me to to Grant Achatz, the chef at Alinea in Chicago.  He was diagnosed with Stage IV tongue cancer yet persevered through this “death sentence.”  He survived but lost his sense of taste, to him dying might have been a better option.  Nevertheless, his fearless spirit brought him back into the kitchen and he used his non-existent palette to continue his culinary pursuits and now slowly his sense of taste is returning to him.  But imagine, food brings us joy, unites us all and without this vital sense human bonding would not be the same.

Okay, had enough deep conversation yet?  *Snicker*   Where was I?  Oh yes, my self-inflicted challenge!  I know how to make a traditional Yakhni Pulao, so I used this as my starting point.  From my the remaining bones that I had butchered off of my chicken breasts I made a stock.  A simple stock comprised of onion, garlic, carrots, parsley, black peppercorns, cloves, salt, basically whatever you feel like adding to it.  The base was going to be simple, onions and garlic but what else could I add for the aroma and flavor present in Afghani pulao?  Another pantry raid!  Cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaves, saffron, cloves, nutmeg, peppercorns, dried red chilies, dried cranberries, pine nuts, almonds–all at my disposal!  Overflowing with excitement, I was ready to tackle this dish.

Afghani Pulao

Serves 3

Ingredients

1 cup basmati rice, soaked and washed

2 1/2 cups chicken stock (low sodium, free-range, homemade is best, but a good quality boxed one is fine)

1 medium red onion, sliced

3 garlic cloves, minced

3-4 tablespoons oil (I used a combination of Canola and Olive Oil)

1 cinnamon stick

1 bay leaf

2-3 cardamom pods

4 cloves

5-6 black peppercorns

pinch of nutmeg, ground

1/2 teaspoon crushed red chilies

1/2 teapsoon saffron threads

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon orange zest

2-3 carrots, grated

1 tablespoon each, blanched slivered almonds and pine nuts (add extra for garnish, if desired)

1/4 cup dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, golden raisins, apricots, currants–I had dried cranberries on hand)

cilantro leaves, for garnish, optional

1-2 tablespoons butter, optional

Method:

Add the oil to a pot.  Let it warm on medium heat add the onions allow to sweat.  When the onions are almost golden, add the garlic.  Next add all the whole spices including the crushed red chilies, salt, and nutmeg but not the saffron.  Toss in the dried fruit and nuts.  Let the nuts toast and the dried fried reconstitute.  After a minute or so add the chicken stock and bring to a boil.  When the stock is boiling add the saffron.  Let the saffron steep for 30 seconds.  Next, pour in the rice.  Allow to cook in the stock for about 15 minutes or until just undercooked.  At this point add the carrots and orange rind on top.  Turn the heat to low.  Use a kitchen towel and cover it over the pot tightly.  Then put the lid top and let the carrots sweat and the orange rind lets its oils perfume the rice.  Let it sit on very low heat for 10 minutes.  Uncover and fluff with a fork.  You may add butter for some extra richness at this point.  Place in serving dish garnish with extra nuts and cilantro leaves.

*I always serve Kachumbar or chopped salad with Pakistani rice dishes.  It is simply chopped onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, green chilies, cilantro leaves,  a squeeze of lemon or lime juice, salt, a pinch of red chili powder, and a pinch of cumin.