Monday, February 27, 2012

Strawberry Tart


We have been enjoying high 60’s to low 70’s weather here in CA even though it is still winter. I already see a lot of cheap strawberries at the supermarket shelves and they are pretty cheap. I paid only $1.78 a punnet and have been buying it every other day. The one I bought last week were not as sweet so I decided to use it to make tart. The tart turns out beautifully – the slight tartness of the strawberries compliments the pastry cream really well. Carlos said it is one of the best tart he ever eaten. I think he just said that to make me happy ha ha.....



Ingredients for the tart shell:

210 gram flour
130 gram cold butter – cut into cubes
3 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg yolk
1-2 tbsp cold water

1. Put flour, butter, sugar and salt into a food processor fitted with metal blade. Process until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
2. Then add in the egg yolk. With the motor running, add in the cold water in tiny trickles, until the pastry just hold together. Remove from the processor, press together into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to rest for half an hour.
3. Grease a 9” tart pan with some butter. Roll out the pastry and line the tart pan. Prick the bottom with a fork four or five times. Rest the crust in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, before baking.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degree F. Weight down the pie with some beans and blind bakes it until the edge of the crust is lightly brown. Remove the beans and continue to bake until golden brown. Remove from oven and let it cool down.


Ingredients for Pastry Cream:

2 cups whole milk
1/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 tbsp unsalted butter – cut into small cubes
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Pour the milk into a heavy saucepan. Add the salt, place over medium-high heat, and bring to just under a boil, stirring occasionally.
2. Meanwhile, whisk together the cornstarch and sugar. Add the eggs and whisk until smooth. When the milk is ready, slowly drizzle about 1/3 of the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking continuously.
3. Pour the egg-milk mixture back into the hot milk and continue whisking until the custard is as thick as lightly whipped cream, about 2 minutes. The mixture must come just to the boiling point.
4. Remove from heat and immediately pour through a sieve into a bowl. Stir in the vanilla extract. Let cool for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in the butter, one cube at a time and continue to whisk it into the pastry cream until smooth.
5. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, pressing directly onto the top of the cream to prevent a skin from forming and put in the refrigerator to cool.


For Garnish:

Some sliced strawberries
4 tbsp strawberry jam

1. Warm up the strawberry jam in the microwave oven for 20 seconds. Mix well. Lightly brush the base of the tart shell with some of the jam.
2. Fill the tart shell with pastry cream. Arrange the sliced strawberries around the tart. Brush the balance of the strawberry jam all over the top of the tart. Serve cold.

21 comments:

Angie's Recipes said...

What an elegant berry tart!

yummylittlecooks said...

Wish to have a slice right now :)

lena said...

what a beauty!!

Shereen said...

The strawberry tart look so pretty..tak sampai hati I nak makan..lol!Love your photos!

ann low said...

Your strawberry tart looks so pretty.I think I'm going to get more strawberries soon. :)

Debs @ The Spanish Wok said...

I love strawberry tarts but have never made one. You have inspired me to do so now.

Many years ago I worked in an office and it was custom on your birthday to buy cakes for everyone. I used to buy individual strawberry tarts from the local baker, there were filled with cream, some sort of gelatine strawberry mixture on top then topped with fresh straws. Nevery been able to find a recipe with the gelatine type mixture. Any ideas of suggestions?

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

The tart looks gorgeous, Gert! I am waiting for the US American strawberries to get here! :)

MyFudo™ said...

The prettiest strawberry tart I have ever seen. I am sure it will taste as amazing as how it looks. Thanks for the post.

My Asian Kitchen said...

lovely!! I always admire your pastry and tart creation!!
oh!! btw,we're going to SF and LA on this Spring break!!

mycookinghut said...

This is one of my favourite tarts! I absolutely love it!

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

Your tart is beautiful and can't wait to try out when I could find cheap strawberries here.

WendyinKK said...

This tart blew me away...
Nice la, very.

Linda said...

Your tart is so lovely! Cant wait to try out!

Biren @ Roti n Rice said...

Your tart looks gorgeous! I am sure it is very tasty too. This will be a nice one to make when strawberries are in season here, normally in March and April. Ahh...such nice weather!

ICook4Fun said...

Angie, thank you.

Yummylittlecooks, :)

Lena, thanks.

Shereen, ha ha thank you. I am so sad now that the canon went kaput on me. I have to send it in for repair. Don't know when I can get it back.

Ann, thank you. We start seeing quite a bit of strawberries here now.

Debs, I hope you will try this out as it is not difficult to make. The tarts you were talking about, did the cook the strawberries? Or they brush the strawberries with some gelaine mixture for glisten them up?

Shirley, thank you. I am sure you will get the US strawberries pretty soon. We are having spring like weather here on the West Coast.

MyFudo, thank you.

ICook4Fun said...

Lesley, thank you. Look forward to see you. Will call you this week.

Leemei, mine too :)

Sonia, thank you.

Wendy, thank you :)

Linda, hope you like this!

Biren, thank you. We have a lot of strawberries here now. I am looking forward to spring too as there will be abundance of berries.

LYLY said...

Gert, your tart looks yummy. Welcome to California

ICook4Fun said...

LYLY, which part of California are you at?

lyly said...

Hi Gert, I live in South California, Orange County. Really admire your talent. Your blog is my daily diary.

ICook4Fun said...

Lyly, We used to live at Orange County too. We were at Irvine :)

lyly said...

Gert, Irvine is nice place to live. Don't you miss it :)