It’s been a busy week in the kitchen as I prepared to join Sally Pepper in the BBC Radio Derby studio to cook up a storm in their delightful kitchen. Or so I thought. In reality the kitchen was reminiscent of my student days; who knew that electric coil hobs still existed? Infamous as the women who served a chocolate dessert on national television, which some viewers compared to a type 2 on the Bristol Stool Chart (lumpy and sausage like), Sally’s challenge was to prepare something a little easier on the eye. Chaos and mayhem followed, including a small fire; the result of what looked like ten-years of built up grease on those electric coils. Sally made a fabulous sous chef, bashing nuts and biscuits and whisking sauces whilst I worked against the odds; including rusty pans and an absence of spoons, to get something edible on the plate. At one point it seemed like my chocolate delight would resemble a type 7 (liquid consistency with no visible lumps) but all came good in the end as I served up a delightful spiced hazelnut and chocolate orange tart, with orange sauce and orange Chantilly cream.

Serves 4
Ingredients:
For the shortbread base:
150 g butter
50g caster sugar
160g plain flour
1tsp coriander seeds
½ tsp black pepper corns
½ cinnamon stick
½ star anise
4 cardamom pods
1tsp sugar
20g hazelnuts

For the ganache:
400g dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)
500mls double cream
Zest of 4 oranges (You will use the juice in the sauce so no waste)

For the orange Chantilly cream:
150mls double cream
Zest of 1 orange
1 tsp icing sugar

For the Orange sauce:
Juice of 5 oranges
1 tsp of cornflour
Knob of butter

Method:
Start by making the shortbread. Pre-heat the oven to 170°c / 150°c fan/gas mark 3.Toast the hazelnuts in a dry frying pan until golden, before lightly crushing in a pestle and mortar. In the same pan toast the coriander seeds, peppercorns, star anise, cinnamon and cardamom pods until golden and aromatic. Crush, using either a spice grinder or a pestle and mortar, before passing through a fine sieve and mixing in 1tsp of sugar.
Make the shortbread biscuits by beating 100g of the butter until soft and then mixing in the sugar until smooth. You can do this by hand, but an electric whisk or mixer will make light work of this. Sift in the flour, add the crush nuts and spice mix and work until a firm dough is formed. You will get the best results if you do this by hand, but try not to overwork the dough. Roll out the dough and bake on a greased baking sheet for 20 – 25 minutes. You don’t need to cut the dough into shapes, as you will be crushing it up once baked.
The next stage is to make the base for your tarts. Take the remaining 50g of butter and melt this over a gentle heat. Using a pastry brush, lightly grease the inside of four 9cm metal rings (If you don’t have metal rings, you can make one larger tart using a 20cm loose bottom cake tin). Break up the shortbread biscuit – crumb size is up to you, personally I prefer to leave a few larger pieces as this gives a good texture when you eat it. You can either do this in a food processor, or by placing the biscuits into a sealed plastic bag and hitting with a rolling pin (the latter method is particularly enjoyable after a hard day in the office). If you are using a food processor and want a larger crumb I would recommend using the pulse button as this will give you greater control. Place the biscuit crumb into a mixing bowl and gradually add the melted butter, stirring as you add. You may not need all of the butter. The crumb needs to be holding its form when pressed together. If you add too much butter the base can be a little greasy. If you are using metal rings (this will look prettier if you are serving this at a dinner party) put each ring on a small plate, divide the mixture into four equal parts and press into the bottom of each ring. If you are using a cake tin, simply press the mixture into the bottom. Place the base in the refrigerator to chill whilst you move onto the ganache.
Break up the chocolate into a mixing bowl; the smaller the pieces the better. Add the zest of four oranges to the chocolate. Gently heat the cream until it is almost at boiling point, but be careful not to allow it to boil over. If you heat the cream too rapidly it can burn on the bottom; so the key is patience. Once the cream is heated, pour over the chocolate and mix with a balloon whisk. Don’t worry if it looks like it has split – this is normal. Continue to whisk and eventually you will be left with a smooth, glossy chocolate ganache. Pour over the biscuit base and return to the refrigerator to set. Ideally you need to chill the tarts for at least 30 minutes. If making in advance, take them out of the refrigerator about forty-five minutes before you want to serve them, as they are better when served at room temperature.
To make the cream simply whisk the double cream until it forms soft peaks, before sifting in the icing sugar and mixing in the zest of one orange. It is definitely much easier if you have an electric whisk, but this can be done by hand. Reserve in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve.
Finally, make the orange sauce. Squeeze the juice of five oranges into a sauce pan and whisk in the cornflour. Place over a gentle heat and whisk until thickened – you are looking for the consistency of single cream. If your sauce isn’t thick enough mix a little more cornflour with some water and slowly add to the sauce, continuing to whisk as you do so. If your sauce is too thick, add a little more orange juice or water until you get the desired consistency. Whisk in the knob of butter at the end, which will give a lovely shine to the finished sauce. This is quite a sour sauce, which I feel is needed to cut through the richness of the chocolate. However, if you prefer something a little sweeter, you could always sieve in a little icing sugar into the sauce. Decant the sauce into a squeezy bottle (if you are feeling fancy) or a jug and allow it to completely cool in the refrigerator before serving.
To serve remove the tarts from the metal rings (or cut slices from a larger tart) and place in the centre of a plate. Add quenelles of cream to the side – a quenelle is an elegant, football-shaped scoop of ice cream, sorbet, whipped cream, crème fraiche or mousse. There plenty of videos on-line if you are uncertain of the technique. But don’t worry too much, a simple spoon of cream on the side will taste just a nice. Unleash your creative side with swirls, dots or drizzles of sauce, dust with icing sugar if you desire and serve.