Chocolate Tart with Citrus Salad and Crushed Hazelnuts

Ingredients

Yield:

Serves 6

• Tart Dough:

  • Medjool Dates (Pitted) 6oz.
  • Almond Flour 4oz.
  • Cocoa Powder 1oz.
  • Sea Salt (Pinch)
  • Agave Nectar (as needed)

• Chocolate Ganache

  • Banana - 2 medium
  • Avocado - 1 medium
  • Cocoa Powder 2 oz.
  • Agave Nectar 2 oz.

Preparation

Difficulty:

medium

Time:

20 Minutes

Total Time:

12 Hours

1. Tart Dough:

   • Combine first four ingredients in a food processing, adding approximately one tablespoon of Agave and continue blending until a ball of dough forms. More or less Agave may be needed in order to get the right consistency.
   • Turn the dough onto a table and form into a rectangle, wrapping in plastic and refrigerating overnight.

2. Chocolate Ganache:

   • Combine and blend all four ingredients in a food processor, until as smooth as possible.
   • Push the Ganache through a mesh strainer to remove any fibers from the Banana.

3. Assembly:

   • Roll out dough to approximately 1/4 inch thick, keeping shape as square as possible
   • Divide into 3 even strips and spread the ganache mixture evenly over each third of dough, about 1/4 inch thick
   • Stack each layer on top of the other, similar to a napoleon.
   • Freeze, then cut into long slender rectangles of about 1 inch wide by 4 inches long.

4. Tips:

   • The Dates and Agave are a natural sweetener and bind the Almond Flour, adding body to the dough, and cutting the bitterness of the Cocoa Powder. The sea salt helps round out the flavors.
   • The Avocado adds a richness or fattiness, the same way cream and butter do for a traditional ganache and Banana gives the Ganache thickness and body, while also adding a bit of sweetness and flavor and cancelling out some of the Avocado's oiliness.
   • Since the dough lacks the crunch you would get from a baked tart shell add Crushed Hazelnuts to the plate (they can also be added in between the layers of the tart).
   • For the Citrus Salad segment oranges, blood oranges, grapefruit, and lime. Add a bit of Agave or Honey to sweeten and let marinate overnight.
   • To garnish the dish use a pinch of Fleur de Sel on the tart and a chiffonade of mint on the citrus (see photo).