French Strawberry Tart

Step 1

Place the flour, butter, icing sugar, salt and almonds in a mixing bowl.

Step 2

Work the dough by rubbing it between your fingertips.

Step 3

Add the egg and mix using a fork.

Step 4

Turn the mixture out on a work surface and knead to form a smooth dough without overworking it.

Step 5

Flatten the dough out slightly, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 days.

Step 6

Once the dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 180°C and let the dough sit at room temperature for 10 minutes until soft enough to roll it but not too soft.

Step 7

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to ½ cm thickness / 23 cm circle and line a 20 cm fluted, loose-bottomed tart tin.

Step 8

Press the dough firmly against the sides and bottom without stretching it and trim off the excess dough.

Step 9

Prick the dough all over with a fork, cover and place in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before blind baking.

Step 10

Preheat the oven to 175° C (fan oven).

Step 11

Line the tart tin with parchment paper or tin foil, covering the edges to avoid them from burning.

Step 12

Fill with dried chickpeas or rice to prevent the dough from rising and bake for about 15 minutes, remove the chickpeas or rice and cook for another 10 minutes until golden brown.

Step 13

Let it cool down on a wire rack before filling with the pastry cream.

Step 14

Place the milk, vanilla paste and butter in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove the saucepan from the heat.

Step 15

In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture becomes pale and thick. Add the flour along with the cornflour and whisk to combine.

Step 16

Add half of the hot milk into the flour-egg mixture, whisking well and return the mixture into the saucepan with the rest of the milk.

Step 17

Return the saucepan to heat and cook until it thickens, whisking continuously. Let it boil for a minute stirring continuously then remove from the heat. Let it cool down to room temperature.

Step 18

When the pastry cream has reached room temperature, start whipping the double cream or whipping cream until you reach stiff peaks.

Step 19

Whisk the pastry cream to loosen then fold in the whipped cream gently in 2 stages.

Step 20

Spoon the diplomat cream into the baked sweet pastry shell, and level the top with the back of a spoon or a spatula.

Step 21

Arrange the strawberries over the pastry cream and brush them with nappage.