Fresh Strawberry Tart
Equipment
- 1 whisk – a balloon whisk is good, but a standard whisk also works
- 1 tart tin with removeable base 30cm
- 1 small sieve
- some baking parchment
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 500g baking beans – any cheap pulses will do. We use dried peas.
- 1 pastry brush
Ingredients
Sweet pastry – either buy it (approx 375g), or make it as follows:
- 250 g pastry flour or T55
- 125 g vegan margarine at room temperature (we use Vitaquell or Planta Fin in France. Naturli is good, if available)
- 70 ml water
- 8 g light brown caster sugar
- 4 g fine sea salt
- 3 g xanthan gum
Pastry cream
- 500 ml non-dairy milk (we used soy)
- 1 pinch vanilla powder (or 1/2 tsp vanilla essence)
- 120 g coconut sugar
- 2 g agar-agar powder
- 1 pinch turmeric powder (optional)
- 60 g cornflour
- 60 g vegetable margarine
Filling
- 500 g fresh strawberries of small to medium size
Glaze
- 100 g apricot jam (a quarter jar)
- 1 teaspoon rum or grand marnier or kirsch
Instructions
Sweet pastry
- To make the sweet pastry put the flour in a mixing bowl and add the margarine in small pieces. Using a whisk gently mix the two ingredients until you have a sandy texture. Scrape out the whisk with a table knife.
- In another bowl whisk together the water, sugar, salt and gum.
- Add the seasoned water to the flour/margarine and mix together until everything is incorporated into a ball and nothing is left sticking to the bowl.
- Wrap or cover the pastry in a small bowl and put it into the fridge for at least 30 minutes before use
Pastry cream
- For the pastry cream, put the milk to heat gently with the vanilla powder or essence in it
- In a bowl, stir together the sugar, agar-agar and the optional turmeric
- Sieve the cornflour into the sugar mix and stir.
- Heat the milk until boiling point, then gradually add it to the dry mixture, whisking all the time
- Using a spatula, pour and scrape the mixture back into the milk pan, leaving a clean bowl, then gently simmer for 2-3 minutes, Stir continuously and be careful the mixture doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.
- When it is thick pour it back into your bowl and whisk the margarine into it
- To avoid a skin forming place a plastic or wax wrap directly onto the surface of the cream.
- Leave to cool then put in the fridge for at least an hour.
- Before using, whisk the pastry cream while it's cold so it will be easier to pour into your tart case
Blind bake the tart case
- Get the oven ready to blind bake the tart case . Switch on the oven at 180C/ 160C fan/ 350F/Gas4 and have a shelf in the middle
- Grease the tart tin with some of the margarine
- Roll out the pastry and line the tart tin
- Cut out a circle of baking parchment (see https://youtu.be/eFGnxOKUHVg) and put it into the tin, then add the baking beans
- Bake for 15 minutes, then take it out the oven, carefully lift out into a bowl the parchment with the beans, then return the tart to the oven for another 5-7 minutes to finish cooking and to dry out the base
- When cooked, remove from the oven and leave in the tin to cool for at least 15 minutes
Assemble the Fresh Strawberry Tart
- To assemble the tart, first take the pastry cream, whisk it and pour into the pastry case. Smooth it out with a spatula or small palette knife
- Take the green hulls off the strawberries and cut them in half vertically.
- Place the strawberry halves, cut side up, around the tart, pressing them gently into the pastry cream. If the berries are of various sizes, use the larger ones first around the outside, using the smaller ones as you get towards the middle.
- Set aside while you make the glaze
Glaze and finish your Fresh Strawberry Tart
- Now make the glaze. In a small pan heat the jam until it is runny
- Add the alcohol and stir
- Put a small sieve on a small bowl then pour the glaze through to remove any pieces of fruit and leave a fine syrup glaze.
- Using the pastry brush gently paint each strawberry piece, dipping the brush very regularly. Run the brush around the outside top edge of the pastry as well.
- Set the finished Fresh Strawberry Tart aside. A large upturned bowl or cake cover is useful to protect it until ready to serve.
