Strawberry Tart

Sweet pastry

250g salted butter

175g seived icing sugar

2 eggs

400g plain flour

1tsp vanilla extract

Cream together the room temp butter with icing sugar and vanilla- but be careful to stopo once the ingredients are smooth, you dont want to aerate them. Beat eggs in a separate bowl, then add gradually to the mix. Finally, add flour and bring together to form a dough. Finish patting it into a smooth ball by hand to avoid overworking the gluten, before wrapping in clingfilm and refrigerating for a mininimum of 1 hour.

Creme patissiere 

300ml whole milk

1 vanilla pod split

pinch of sea salt

100g caster sugar

25g cornflour

3 egg yolks

30g unsalted butter

Weigh milk out into a saucepan, and add vanilla pod. gently heat to infuse the vanilla whilst prepping the rest of the ingredients.

Mix sugar, cornflour, salt and egg yolks in a bowl and whisk to make a smooth paste which should be paler in colour. Once the milk reaches a simmer, pour around a third of it into the bowl with the egg mix, whisking vigourously. Once this is combined, add the whole of the contents of the bowl back into the milk saucepan and place back on a low heat, whisking continously. The mixture should start to thicken, but keep mixing to avoid burning of lumps forming. Once it is thickened, remove from heat and stir in the butter, before placing in a bowl, covering with cling film so that it touches the surface and refrigerate until cool.

To make the tart: 

Roll out the dough onto a 10" loose bottom tart tin. It should drape over the edge. Place in the fridge to cool again whilst the oven pre heats to 160 Fan. Line the pastry with greaseproof and baking beans before baking for approx 20 minutes. You can remove the beans and paper after 15 to finish baking.

Leave to cool completely before trimming the edges with a sharp knife and removing from tin. Meanwhile, remove creme pat from the fridge, and vigourously mix it to create a smooth pliable texture. You can pipe the mix into your tart base, or dollop in with a spatula, and smooth out. Place washed, hulled and sliced strawberries onto the surface, and finally glaze with some strawberry syrup or warmed seedless jam. Serve immediately.