Briony's Chocolate, Blood Orange & Basil Tart

Ingredients 

Pastry

• 125g unsalted butter, softened
• 85g icing sugar
• 40g ground almonds
• Pinch of salt
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 200g plain flour
• ½ tsp baking powder

Ganache

• 300g dark chocolate
• 300ml double cream
• 1 tsp orange extract

Blood Orange Curd

• 4 medium eggs + 2 egg yolks, beaten
• 180g caster sugar
• 3 tsp blood orange zest
• 200ml fresh blood orange juice
• 125g unsalted butter, cube

To Finish

• Handful fresh basil
• 50g white chocolate
• Dried blood orange slices

Method

1. Oven on to 200°C/180°C fan. Place baking sheet in oven. Make the pastry. Pop all ingredients in a food processor. Pulse until it forms a soft dough. Tip onto floured surface and knead a couple of times to combine. Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
    
2. Make curd. Combine ingredients in a heat proof bowl. Microwave on 50% power in 1 minute intervals, mixing in between, until curd is thickened and will coat the back of a spoon. Set aside to cool.
    
3. Roll out pastry on floured surface to 5mm thickness. Transfer to 20cm tart tin and press into sides and base. Leave a few centimetres of pastry above the rim as it will shrink in the oven. Prick base all over with a fork. Cut out a piece of parchment paper big enough to place in the pastry case and fill with baking beans or uncooked rice. Bake for 10 minutes on top of baking sheet. Remove parchment and beans/rice. Bake for a further 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Set aside to cool.
    
4. Make ganache. Break up chocolate into a bowl. Heat cream in a pan until steaming and bubbling at the edges. Pour over the chocolate, leave for a few minutes and stir until glossy. Add orange extract. Mix to combine.
    
5. Spread layer of curd in base of pastry case.Chop a few basil leaves into fine pieces. Sprinkle over the curd. Pop in the freezer for 10 minutes.
    
6. Pour ganache over curd and basil until it fills pastry case. Put in freezer for an hour to set.
    
7. Melt white chocolate in microwave in 30 second bursts until smooth. Drizzle over tart. Top with a few small basil leaves and some slices of dried blood orange (pop slices of blood orange on a sheet of parchment and bake at 120°C for 1 hour to dry out).