You will need
For the pastry:
100g salted butter, kept cold in the fridge
200g plain flour
50g icing sugar
3 egg yolks (keep the egg whites for glazing the pastry)
Cold water, as needed
For the filling:
250g strawberries
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla Essence
50g caster sugar
150ml milk
150ml double cream
Pinch of salt
To serve:
200ml whipping cream for decoration
25g icing sugar
Method
1. For the pastry, in a bowl, scrape the butter into small pieces, then, whilst slowly adding the flour, press and mix the ingredients to make a crumble mixture. Once it’s crumbly, add the icing sugar and egg yolks and mix through to bind the mixture loosely. If the mixture will not bind together, add one teaspoon of cold water and continue to mix. Only add one teaspoon of water at a time and never more than four teaspoons of water in total.
2. Place the pastry on a piece of clingfilm, wrap tightly, then roll into a sausage shape and place in the fridge for 60 minutes.
3. You need to blind-bake the tart base. On a floured surface, roll-out the pastry to a thickness of a one pound coin. Gently place the pastry in a floured tart tin and mould it into the corners with your fingers; don’t tidy the edges yet because the pastry will shrink when it is baked.
4. Prick with a fork all over, to stop it from rising and place in a preheated oven at 180°C/gas mark 4 for eight minutes.
5. Remove from the oven, check for any holes or cracks and patch them with your spare pastry. Allow the tart to cool for five minutes, glaze it with the beaten egg white to seal the base of the tart and place back in the oven for a further two minutes. Remove from the oven, and trim the edges with a sharp knife.
6. For the filling, wash and hull the strawberries, cut each into approx four slices, separate into two equal amounts and set aside.
7. Make the custard by whisking together the eggs, egg yolks, vanilla essence, caster sugar, milk, double cream and salt. Whisk until it is smooth and fully combined. Add half the strawberries and gently fold-in.
8. Turn the oven down to 140°C/gas mark 1. Pour the custard into the tart base ensuring the strawberries are evenly spread.
9. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Check it’s cooked by lightly shaking the tin, the mixture should be firm but still a bit wobbly, like a jelly.
10. Whip the cream and icing sugar until the peaks hold. To serve, decorate the tart with the other half of the strawberries and pipe the whipped cream in a pattern. Slice and serve.
Recipe, Mat Follas for the Happy Egg Co
Click here to go to the original article on Red Online
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