another busy weekend

yikes, almost a month since my last post? eep!

have been busy busy busy lately - settling in to my new job, taking classes, organising parent support groups, blah blah.

so busy in fact that this is not done:



it's meant to be a shadow-argyle cardigan along the lines of this one, for the cousin of the baby who got the first one. but since i have been riding my bicycle instead of spending hours a day on the ttc, i haven't got as much knitting done. and the shower is today. yikes!

will be heading out shortly for dimsum & to buy a little something for the wee bairn-to-be. meanwhile, i hope to distract everyone away from the lack of home-made-ness with a tasty dessert - something along the lines of a chocolate bakewell tart. i believe there is a recipe for such a thing in judith olney's joy of chocolate, but for some reason my eyes wouldn't see it on the shelf until after i had faked up my own version. ah well!

the inspiration was a punnet of raspberries the kiddo insisted we get:



so i took a half-started pastry out of the freezer (was going to bake a pie for a party, but then i was asked to bring a cake, so i just shoved the flour/butter/lard in the freezer for a rainy day), added cocoa and stuff and called it chocolate. then i made a custard based on a recipe in regan daley's in the sweet kitchen




i arranged the raspberries in the chocolate tart shell and then used a ladle to pour the custard over carefully, so as not to send them all rolling around. not fair if one slice has all the raspberries!





chocolate rasberry custard tart

chocolate pastry:

1 1/2 cups pastry flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup cocoa
6 tbs sugar
1/4 cup cold butter
1/4 cup cold lard
1 tbs white vinegar
1 tbs black coffee
1 egg, beaten

custard:
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
seeds from one vanilla pod

filling:
1 punnet raspberries
1 egg white
1/4 tsp salt

pastry:

combine dry ingredients. cut cold butter and lard into little bits and rub into the dry ingredients with your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

sprinkle the coffee and vinegar over and mix in with a fork. add the beaten egg and mix in. work with your hands.

press the mixture into a flan ring and chill for an hour.

prick the bottom of the pastry all over with a fork, and bake blind at 375 f - for 15 minutes covered with foil & pie weights (i use beans), and 10 minutes uncovered. let cool.

custard:

whisk together egg yolks, adding sugar slowly. whisk in vanilla seeds and cream. scrape down the sides to ensure that all the sugar is incorporated and dissolved.

filling:

wash, dry, and pick over the berries.

whisk together the egg white and salt. paint the bottom of the pastry with this, and bake about 5 minutes at 325 till it is dry.

arrange the raspberries in the pastry. use a ladle to pour the custard carefully over all. bake for 35-45 minutes at 325 f, till custard is just firm.

it's nice too to drizzle with 2 oz of melted bittersweet chocolate. i didn't manage to get a photo post-drizzle though - we were in too much of a rush to get to the baby shower - and of course there were no leftovers!