Something for the Weekend. A cookbook by Ruth Watson.

This cookery book is by Ruth Watson. I have a soft spot for Ruth. I love her recipes and I really like they way she writes them up. I feel she is chatting to me like an old friend.

Ruth has an interesting background. She ran a hotel and restaurant for many years in Britain.

It was Delia Smith who encouraged her to start writing about food.

Then she was picked up to star in the Hotel Inspector on television.

 This saw her cross Britain in an attempt to help hoteliers. There were moments of frustration, high farce and insanity and Ruth’s down to earth practical approach to each problem and her great sense of humour made the series a success.

Her recipes, like her, are practical down to earth and always work.

I just love this cookery book, Something for the Weekend, with Eight Around the Table.

It’s all about cooking for entertaining people at home.

I wanted to pick one of her desert recipes; she calls it her pudding chapter.

As she says herself, a sugar infused finale to the meal is not just desirable but obligatory for most people.

Chocolate Tart.

So what is it to be? Passion fruit meringue pie? raspberry tart? lemon tart? tiramisu cake?, her list goes on and on.

I’m going for Bitter Chocolate Tart.  It’s a classic and Ruth’s recipe is spot on.

You’ll need short crust pastry to make the case.

Ruth’s recipe is as follows.

225g plain flour.

1 teaspoon icing sugar.

A pinch of fine sea salt.

140g cold unsalted butter, cubed.

1 large free range egg yolk.

3 tablespoons of ice cold water.

Blitz the flour, icing sugar and salt in a food processor.

Add the butter and blitz again until it looks like breadcrumbs.

Whisk the egg yolk and water together and pour into the flour mixture.

This is what I am talking about.

Blitz again in the food processor until the pastry has formed into a dough ball around the spindle.

Take out the dough and squash flat into a disc shape, cover in cling wrap and let rest for an hour in the fridge.

Take out the pastry. Let it warm up. Roll flat with a well floured rolling pin and line the tin.

Let it chill again in the fridge.

Heat the oven to 180 degrees. Line with parchment and tip in some baking beans to hold the whole thing down. Bake for 15 minutes and take out and remove parchment and beans. Put back in a bake for another 5 minutes.

Take out and let cool.

The filling

450g dark chocolate at least 70% cocoa solids, I use Lindt.

200ml full fat milk

284ml double cream

4 large free range eggs, obviously I’m using my Happy Eggs.

Preheat the oven 150c fan

Melt chocolate in bowl suspended well clear over simmering water.

Combine milk and cream in saucepan and heat just to just under boiling point

In a large bowl whisk eggs.

Pour in hot milk mixture and whisk lightly in bowl with eggs.

Rinse out saucepan.

Cook, stirring constantly until it thickens.

Take the pan from the heat the minute it thickens.

Pass the custard through a sieve on to the melted chocolate.

Gently beat together not too vigorously you don’t want to create bubbles.

Put the pastry case on a baking sheet then pour in chocolate mixture.

Put tart in oven and cook for 5 minutes, then switch off the oven.

Leave the tart to set for about 1 hour.

Take tart out of oven and leave to cool completely

And as Ruth says herself serve with a big blob of crème Frache.

Ruth says it should taste like the embodiment of all bitter chocolate. The texture must flutter tantalisingly on the border between custard creaminess, silky unctuousness and molten firmness and of course the pastry must be whisper fine short and very buttery.

Ruth Watson is a star.

Something for the Weekend. With eight around the table.

Quadrille Publishing

www.quadrille.co.uk

I got my copy for R100 at Book World.