A Chocolate And Tahini Tart For Mikey

I woke up Monday morning to the sad news that Jennie Perillo’s husband Mikey had passed away hours before. Suddenly, just like that, he was gone. The news left me paralyzed. I didn’t know Mikey personally, but I thought about Jennie, their girls, and their family. I put myself in their shoes and could feel the pain almost as mine.

And today in Mikey’s memory, the blogsphere is filling up with love-filled peanut butter pies — his favorite. In Jennie’s words “make a peanut butter pie this Friday and share it with someone you love. Then hug them like there’s no tomorrow because today is the only guarantee we can count on”

We will be doing that with this chocolate and tahini mousse tart. No peanut butter in our pantry, but it doesn’t matter, as it’s all about love and what we are and what we have now — Right now.

Our love goes to you and your family Jennie. You know Mikey is smiling.

Gluten-Free Chocolate and Tahini Tart

Makes a 7-inch tart

Chocolate Pastry

1 cup (140 g) superfine brown rice flour

2 Tbs (20 g) potato starch

2 Tbs (15 g) tapioca starch

2 Tbs (10 g) Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

8 Tbs (115 g) unsalted butter, cold and diced

1/2 cup (125 ml) ice cold water

Place the first five ingredients in the food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine. Add the butter and pulse 10 times until the butter is cut into pea-size pieces. Add the ice water while pulsing. You might not need all of it so reserve a couple of tablespoons. The dough will not form a ball, but should stick together when pressed but not be too wet.

Form the dough into a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap and flatten it a bit with your hand. Refrigerate the dough for about 1 hour.

Roll out the dough to about 1/4 to 1/8-inch thickness and fill the tart mold with it. If the dough cracks, don’t worry, just pinch it back together. It might happen if it’s too cold. Return the tart mold to the refrigerator for another 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Cover the pastry with a piece of parchment paper and fill it with pie weights or dry beans. Bake for 20 minutes, remove parchment and beans, and finish baking for another 8 minutes. Let the tart cool.

Chocolate and Tahini Mousse

10 ounces (300 g) bittersweet chocolate, I used 64%

1 Tbs tahini

1 1/2 cups (375 ml) heavy cream

In a heatproof bowl, melt the chocolate and tahini together over a water bath. Let it cool to room temperature.

Whip the heavy cream to soft peaks. Add the cooled chocolate into the cream and fold together until smooth. Work quickly and make sure not to over fold it over the mousse will break. Transfer the mousse to a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip and fill the tart mold, or simple spoon the mousse into the mold.

Chill the tart for 30 minutes and serve.