Foodiva's Kitchen: My Love in Black and White (or Gunmetal Grey)

Sunday, November 28, 2010

My Love in Black and White (or Gunmetal Grey)

I gave you all the love I got
I gave you more than I could give
I gave you love
I gave you all that I have inside
And you took my love
You took my love

No Ordinary Love, song by Sade


During the years when I was still stumbling around in the dark trying to search for my soulmate, my favorite go-to songs for romance have mainly been the ones sung by Sade. Her public persona has always been elegant, mysterious, sexy, seemingly just-out-of-reach... everything I'd aspired to be - well, back in the heydays, anyway. Nowadays of course, I've moved on to become the person I am, my own person, and I'm happy with the way things are. Only once in a (very rare) while, when it's just me and my iPod and no chattering kids, family members or friends in the vicinity, the soothing sound of Sade's melodies still draws me in, lulls me. Her voice, smooth as liquid gunmetal, and her words reside in a small corner of my mind, I know them all by heart.


Below's music video of No Ordinary Love was actually released back in 1992. Nearly two decades later, this gorgeous woman seems not to have aged a single day! The fact that she's portraying a mermaid here resonates with my natural love of the sea and scuba diving shenanigans. More than once, I imagined Sade-the-mermaid as, ummm, me... (okay, permission to laugh all you want).


My recipe today was an effort to celebrate my triumphs in love (who really cares about the failures?) by making something as smooth and enchanting as that liquid gunmetal voice. In a shade of gunmetal grey, even.


The challenge was not merely how to get the exact hue, but also how to make such a dark grey-colored dish edible and purposefully alluring if it's ever handed to someone on a plate. I decided to try a simple tart, with very minimal oven time. Sound good so far? I toyed with the idea of creating a very stormy grey crust with a pure white (ie. non-cooked) filling. Black sesame have been a feature in several of my recipes lately, but hey, my stock hasn't yet run out and I had to utilize this ingredient again to get that very, very dark crust. When my crusts came out of the oven, you would've found me doing my jiggy dance of joy because they'd turned out in the exact shade that I wanted - gunmetal grey, baby!


Since this tart is all about the dark and also beautiful aspects of love, I felt the nutty-flavored black sesame crust would contrast nicely with a smooth, rich and creamy Mascarpone filling. A blackened heart positioned smack in the middle signifies my love - stamped in black and white, for always.


Mascarpone Tart With Black Sesame Crust
Makes 12 mini-tarts/one 12-inch tart
Ingredients:
Crust
150g plain flour
100g black sesame powder
125g butter
1 egg
100g caster sugar

Filling
1/2 cup cold milk
3 teaspoons powdered gelatine
250g whipping cream
1/2 cup caster sugar
250g Mascarpone cheese
2 teaspoons black sesame powder

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
2. Make the crust first: Place the butter, flour and black sesame in a bowl. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre of the bowl, add sugar and break an egg into it. Knead with your fingers until you get a pliable pastry mixture.
4. Grease the tart tins with butter. Roll dough into little balls and press into the base of the tart tin. Roll reemaining dough in between your palms to form 'ropes', arrange this against the inside edge of the tin and press against the edge to flatten and form the wall of the crust. Prick the base with a fork and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes. If you’re using a standard pie-tin, bake blind for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 180°C, remove the parchment paper and baking beans and bake crust for another 10 minutes. Take out of the oven and set aside to cool. Once cooled, release crust gently from the pan and place on a plate or tray.
5. For the filling, add the gelatine to the cold milk in a small pan to soften it, then heat the pan gently, stirring to dissolve the gelatine. Do not allow the milk to boil. Remove pan from the heat and set aside to cool.
6. In a bowl, beat the whipped cream and sugar until it forms soft peaks, then fold in the mascarpone and cooling gelatine mixture. Pour 1/4 cup of this mascarpone into a small bowl and add 2 teaspoons black sesame powder.  This dark mixure will be used to form the heart designs against the white filling.
7. Spoon or pour light mascarpone mixture carefully into tart crust up to very near the top. Bear in mind there is no baking involved after this, so the filling won't expand. Smooth the surface with a spatula, then spoon small dollops of dark mascarpone on parts of the white filling. Carefully drag the tip of a small knife across the dark mixture, forming a heart shape.
8. Chill tray in the refrigerator for about 4 hours or overnight until the filling is set. Serve cool or at room temperature.

9 comments:

Cooking Gallery said...

Those looks very pretty and yummy too...!

Unknown said...

Thanks CG, my family loves these tarts. The kids think the crust is made with peanut butter because it is so nutty-tasting... haha, tricked them!

the [sugar] apothecary said...

wow, those are gorgeous! you definitely don't find yourself eating a lot of that dark charcoaly color on a regular basis. beautiful.

Roxan said...

Oh these gunmetal grey tarts are amazing! Sesame powder... I've never heard of that. Where'd you get it? I wish i could taste this... Is it pretty savory?

Unknown said...

Sugar apothecary, thanks. No, I don't eat dark charcoaly hued foods often, not as often as I drink the stuff, anyway. It's supposed to promote good health and fab hair!

Roxan, sesame powder has a nutty taste and can be found in many Asian supermarkets. I've made these tarts as a sweet, not savory dessert.

whatsfordinneracrossstatelines said...

This is so cool, it really does remind me of gunmetal grey! I love how you did the hearts in the tarts, so cute. So glad you found your soul mate, maybe that's why your cooking shows so much love! Hope you had a great weekend!
-Gina-

Victoria said...

You're so creative! I would have never thought, "gosh, I should make some tarts that are gunmetal-colored" lol. These are not only unique and beautiful, but I can imagine how good they taste too!! Awesome job! I'm sure Sade would be flattered :)

Unknown said...

Gina, how sweet of you to say that about my cooking! Sometimes my teenagers would disagree when the ingredients I use are something they're not familiar with, but my youngest eats mostly any new concoction as long as they taste delicious... Lol, he knows all about the love thing!

Unknown said...

Victoria, anything around me can be an inspiration to create something in the kitchen! You'd be scared to know what I'm thinking sometimes, and thank goodness they didn't come out as food! Lol.

Related Posts with Thumbnails