Simple French strawberry tart

Yet another entry on strawberry.  I am determined to use up all these little lovelies that we hand picked from the local farm.  I googled for a quick and easy strawberry dessert recipes and came across recipe by Silvana Franco from deliciousmagazine.com.

 

First you need to prepare the shortcrust pastry.

Shortcrust pastry
source: own recipe
200 grm all purpose flour
pinch of salt
100 grm margarine
about 4 tbsp cold water

Method
1) Sift flour with a pinch of salt
2) Cut the fat and rub into the flour with fingertips
3) Add sufficient water to bind into a stiff dough
4) Knead lightly and leave it to rest for 30 mins in a fridge.
5) Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4. Line the pastry case with baking paper and fill with baking beans or rice (as per above picture) and blind-bake for 15 minutes.
6) Remove the beans/rice and paper, then cook for a further 10-15 minutes until golden. If the edges look too dark, cover with foil. Leave for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the creme patissiere
source: by Silvana Franco (http://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk)
350ml whole milk
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways
4 large free-range egg yolks
100g golden caster sugar
25g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

Method       
1) Put the milk and vanilla pod in a large pan, bring to the boil, then turn off the heat. In a large bowl, whisk the yolks and sugar for 10 minutes until voluminous, then beat in the flour and lemon zest. Strain the warm milk slowly into the egg mixture, whisking continuously. Clean the pan, then pour the mixture back in and gently bring to the boil, stirring constantly until it has thickened. Take the pan off the heat, cover the surface of the crème pâtissière with baking paper and leave to cool.
2) Spoon the crème patissiere into the tart, then level the surface with the back of a spoon. Place a strawberry half in the centre of the tart, then arrange concentric rings of fruit around it until all of the crème patissiere is covered.
3) Gently warm the jelly with 2 tbsp water until melted, brush over the strawberries and leave for 2 minutes to set. Serve.

Tadaaaaaa...and it's ready!  This tart looks super tasty and I hope it tastes as good as it looks. Will wait for dearest hubby to return from work before we could savor the flavor of this summer tart.

- Every summer has a story - Unknown