Strawberry ‘regular people’ tart

Yaaay, it’s feeling like summer! And out super early this year, are strawberries – actually pretty good strawberries, not the “look like strawberries and taste like water” kind. So naturally, when I got invited to our next BBQ I thought I could bring some kind of strawberry number for dessert. This is where it starts to get tricky… cooking for other paleo peeps is fine, you know they will find whatever you make sweet and delicious and just be glad of the treat. Cooking for ‘regular people’ (as my kids have coined them) is another story altogether… so I’ve gone a bit primal on this tart and added in cream* for a ganache layer and gone for a lower percentage of dark chocolate. It’s good. Good enough for regular people.

*Could easily swap out for a good rich coconut milk

Ingredients

base

1 cup dried dates
1 cup roasted hazelnuts (140g)
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 tablespoon cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt

filling

100g chilli chocolate (I use Lindt but you could use any type of dark chocolate and add 1/4 teaspoon of chilli powder)
1/2 cup cream*

topping

1 punnet of strawberries
1/2 pomegranate
fresh basil leaves to garnish

* Use full fat coconut milk
for a dairy-free version.

Method

Roughly chop the dates, put in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Put the rest of the base ingredients into a food processor and blend until crumbly. Drain the dates well, and add gradually to the food processor and blend again until well combined.

Press mixture into a 20cm loose-bottomed tart tin, pressing the filling up the sides of the tin with your fingers until even. Pop in the fridge.

To make the filling, cut chocolate into small pieces and put into a bowl. Pour the cream into a pot and heat. As soon as it starts to simmer, remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate. Let it sit for a minute, then whisk together until shiny. Pour into the tart base and spread out. Put back into the fridge.

Slice the strawberries lengthways, or anyway — there’s beauty in chaos! Slice the pomegranate in half and remove the seeds for the garnish. (I just hold a half, cut-side down, in my hand and hit the top firmly with a wooden spoon. The seeds fall into your hand and are ready to use.)

Lay the strawberry slices over the ganache and sprinkle the pomegranate seeds on top. Garnish with small fresh basil leaves — I know it seems weird but basil really works with these flavours! Refrigerate until served.