I must admit that, in my amateur status as a baker (or perhaps my ignorance), I had no idea what Ricotta was. On closer inspection I discovered that it was a cheese. I can't decide whether this was a disappointment for me, on the one hand the Pecorino and Walnut Scones remain to this day one of my greatest successes - and my housemate's favourite - so the idea of combining Walnuts with cheese again appealed to me. On the other hand, I seriously wanted something really tasty and couldn't bear the thought of another Pecan tart style vomit pie (which funnily enough my housemate also loved... though to be fair anyone getting free tart shouldn't be too picky!). But the allure of Chocolate, walnut and Rum drew me in.
- I may be the first student to have ever bought Sainsbury's Basic Dark-Rum for any reason other than to get absolutely annihilated and stumble off "down town" or "t'ut club" -
Making the pastry was frustrating, for some reason the way of doing it seems to change quite a bit per recipe (probably to account for sweetness of the end product) and this time it asked to mix in the flour last with your fingers to form a dough... Unfortunately by this point I'd already made a woopsy and turned the lot into a very fine bread-crumby mixture. *Sigh* Luckily my status as a slightly more experienced baker is coming along strong and I rectified the mistake merely by adding a drop of water... TV deal and cookery book offer still a long way off though!
Onto the filling. As I've mentioned numerous times on my culinary adventure, I am a student having to deal with the harsh realities that I'm simply going to have to "make-do" with the equipment I've got. Luckily, I happened across a tart tin at work one day which my boss happily gave me for free but other than that stroke of luck I'm severely handicapped in the equipment department. Today I needed a pyrex dish to melt the chocolate in. It sounds like a simple problem to solve, but it was annoying, I had no bowls which were either fire retardant (my mixing bowls are plastic) or the right size to slot over a pan of simmering water. Rather than melting the chocolate in the microwave (which could easily burn parts and leave others solid) I used a small plastic bowl in a bigger plastic bowl of boiling water, the same idea as the intended way and success was mine!
After the mixture was done, it was a simple matter of prettifying the top with some purely decorative slices of Pastry and it was complete.
The Result:
An absolutely mind blowing success. Doesn't it just look gosh darned delicious?! Believe me, it tastes just as good! By no means is it the most normal of baked goods, it is full of flavours you just don't encounter on the average day, whether you're a renegade foodie or not! The chocolate and walnut give a solid foundation of flavour which though basic makes for a perfect after dinner treat. The rum and ricotta though, are the real Pièce de résistance, they add the kick to it and make it that little bit more exciting and interesting than your average tinned chocolate desert.
In many ways I'm sad that I'm doing this challenge on this occasion, because I know fully well that until the 20th of August I'm not really going to have the opportunity to make such a delicious dish again. But I suppose that without this challenge I would neither have the skill nor the desire to try it, I would always just settle with the more basic, humdrum and canned desert style dish and never even find out what Ricotta is.
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