Strawberry Tart

This tart is simple to make and will definitely be a crowd please if your family/friends like strawberries - just like my little niece does. I made this last weekend as her extra special dessert the night before they went home as she had been such a sweetheart. I tweaked the original recipe a bit as I like to make sure the strawberry flavour really come through, one way to do this is to 'boil down' the strawberries, adding a bit of water and sugar if you wish. If you don't want to put the strawberry cream, coulis and strawberries in a pastry shell you could try layering the mixture in a dessert glass (wine or martini glasses for individual servings). If you decided to make the servings in glasses, try making a half batch of the pastry and crumbling it on top of the strawberry layers.

Strawberry Tart
(Serves 8)

Ingredients - Pastry:
250g Plain Flour
55g Icing Sugar
125g Unsalted Butter - cold + chopped
1 Egg - Lightly Beaten

Ingredients - Strawberry Cream:
200g Strawberries - hulled + roughly chopped
60ml Water
2 tbs Icing Sugar
350ml Thickened Cream
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Ingredients - Strawberry Coulis:
300g Strawberries - hulled and roughly chopped
2 tbs Icing Sugar

Ingredients - Strawberries:
150g Strawberries - hulled and quartered

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees celsius. Combine the flour and icing sugar for the pastry in a food processor. Add the butter and process in short burst until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg and again process in short bursts until the mixture comes together. Turn the mixture out onto a lightly dusted surface and gently kneed until the dough is completely combined. Form into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap (aka glad wrap) and refrigerate for 10 mins. (Note 1)

2. Roll the pastry out until about 2-3mm thick - you can do this in between 2 sheets of baking paper. Carefully ease into a 22-23cm (8.5-9 inch) tart pan with a removable base. Place the tart pan onto a oven tray. Place a sheet of baking paper on top of the pastry, trimmed to ensure it does not overhang by more than 2 cm (1 inch). Carefully fill the tart pan with baking beans - you can buy ceramic ones from any good kitchenware store.

3. Bake the pastry for 15 mins, carefully remove the baking beans and baking paper and cook for another 10 mins or until golden. Cool completely.

4. Combine the 200g chopped strawberries, water and icing sugar for the strawberry cream in a small saucepan. Bring to boil and then reduce heat down until the mixture is simmering. Simmer the strawberries for 10 mins stirring occasionally. Strain the strawberries through a fine sieve over a bowl or measuring jug. Refrigerate the syrup and return the pulpy strawberries back to the saucepan.

5. Add the 300g chopped strawberries and icing sugar for the strawberry coulis to the saucepan containing the left over strawberry pulp from Step 4. Over a medium-low heat, mix the strawberries until all the sugar is dissolved and the mixture becomes soft, about 3-4 mins. Ensure that you stir frequently or the mixture will stick to the saucepan. Cool.

6. Once the strawberry mixture from Step 5 is cool, process in a blender until smooth.

7. When you are ready to serve the tart, whisk the cream and vanilla until stiff peaks form. Fold through the strawberry syrup until mixed through. Spoon the cream into the pastry case, top with the strawberry coulis and then the remaining chopped strawberries. If you wish, dust lightly with icing sugar.

Note 1: You can use a mix master if you don't have a food processor, but be careful no matter what you use that you don't overwork the pastry.

Note 2: If you have decided to use glasses, fill them as follows:

Top of Glass

Strawberries

Crumble (if you made the pastry - just crumble a little with your fingers)

Coulis

1/3 Strawberry Cream

Coulis

1/3 Strawberry Cream

Coulis

1/3 Strawberry Cream

Bottom of Glass