Walnut tart with chocolate mousse and commandaria sauce

By chef Panikos Hadjittofi

Ingredients

For the dough:

450 gr (3 cups) flour

165 gr (3/4 cups + 1 small teaspoon) sugar

6 yolks

60 ml (4 tablespoons) of water

180 gr butter

 

For the filling:

4 eggs

150 g r(3/4 cups) of sugar,

150 gr (About 1 1/4 cup) chopped walnuts

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of carnation powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

100 gr (1 cup) Galet (ground toasted bread)

10 gr (2 teaspoons) corn flour

25 gr (1 tablespoon) honey

1 sachet of vanilla

 

For the mousse:

250 g black chocolate

250 ml (1 cup) cream

150 ml (3/5 cups) heavy cream mixed with whipped cream (1 1/5 cup whipped cream)

 

For the syrup:

200 ml water

200 g (1 cup) sugar

50 g (2 tablespoons) of honey

 

Commandaria sauce:

2 cups commandaria,

Mastic ice cream and a spoon sweet for serving (optional)

Method

Step 1:

Dough: Mix all the ingredients together in a mixer until they bind and become a soft dough. Make the dough into a ball, wrap it in a plastic film and keep it in the fridge for about 2 hours. Then, open it on a sheet of 1 ½ cm thick and put inside of a 28 cm diameter tart mold.

Prepare the syrup: Stir the water with sugar and honey and when the sugar melts, let it boil and simmer on low heat for 10 minutes. Remove it from the fire.

Step 2:

Filling: Preheat the oven to 180 ° C. Mix the eggs in the bowl with the sugar. Mix all other ingredients in a second bowl and incorporate them into the egg mix with sugar with a wooden spoon. When all is tied, empty the mixture in the dough pan. Bake the tart in the oven for 30-35 minutes. As soon as you remove the tartar from the oven, pour it over with the cold syrup and put it in the refrigerator.

Step 3:

Prepare the chocolate mousse: Heat the cream until it starts to boil – bubbles will appear in the saucepan’s surroundings – remove it from the fire and pour the chocolate. Stir until it melts and becomes a smooth ganache. When the ganache is cold, add the cream, stirring gently, carefully, taking a mixture from the bottom and bringing it to the surface until it is homogenized. Spread it onto the surface of the tart.

Prepare the Commandaria sauce, simmering the Commandaria in a kettle until it evaporates and half is left.

Serve the tart and accompany it with the commandaria, sweet walnut and mastic ice cream.