Recipe and styling by Claire Ferrandi
Photograph by Dylan Swart
Salted dark chocolate and olive oil slab with filo pastry twists
Ingredients
DARK CHOCOLATE SLAB
- 30ml (2 tbsp) olive oil
- 80ml (1/3 cup) fresh cream
- 5ml (1 tsp) fleur de sel + extra, to sprinkle
- 3 x 100g slabs good-quality dark
- chocolate, roughly chopped
FILO TWISTS
- 4 sheets filo pastry
- olive oil, to brush
- salt, to taste
Instructions
For the dark chocolate slab, line the base and sides of a small loaf tin/rectangular plastic container of about 22cm x 10cm with a single piece of baking paper: cut a large piece of baking paper, and press it into the base and up the sides of the dish – there shouldn’t be any gaps where the liquid chocolate could escape and flow out of the confines of the baking paper. (The paper doesn’t need to be perfectly smooth – a few crinkles will result in lovely texture in the finished product). Put the 30ml (2 tbsp) olive oil, fresh cream and fleur de sel in a small pot, and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, add the dark chocolate and whisk until smooth.
Pour the chocolate mixture into the lined loaf tin/container and place in the fridge to set, at least 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 180˚C. While the chocolate slab sets, make the filo twists by halving the filo sheets, lengthways. Proceed to cut each length into 3 strips, widthways, to form 6 rough rectangles. Brush each rectangle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt to taste, then roughly twirl the rectangle up to make long twists. Lay the filo twists on a baking sheet and bake in the oven until crisp and golden, about15 – 25 minutes.
To serve, turn the chocolate slab out onto a serving plate and sprinkle lightly with a little extra fleur de sel. Scatter the filo twists around and slice to serve.