Strawberry and Pistachio Tart with Rose Petals

To make the pastry, cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until well combined, then beat in the egg yolks, one at a time until fully incorporated into the mixture.

Mix in the flour until the mixture comes together as a ball of dough.

Tip the pastry out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead briefly until smooth. Try not to over work the dough.

Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.

Butter and flour an 8” tart tin, knock out the excess flour. Lightly flour your work surface, roll out the pastry nice and evenly, making quarter turns every 3 rolls, making sure the pastry is not sticking.

When it is the thickness of a £1 coin, gently fold in half and lift to the centre of your tin and open out, gently easing the pastry into the inner base edge. Make sure the tin is lined neatly and allow the excess pastry to drape over the edge. Run a rolling pin over the top of the tart to remove the excess pastry, then line with baking parchment and rice or lentils (we use these as they compact down and make a great tart shell shape).

Next, bake the tart blind in a preheated oven at 170c fan/190c/gas 5 for 20- 25 minutes until the edges are lightly golden. Carefully remove the paper and rice/lentils, and bake for a further 10-15 minutes at 120c fan/140c/gas 3 to dry the tart shell out completely.

Once the shell is cooled, decant, remove the base and place onto a serving dish. Mix together the filling, taste to ensure the sweet/sour taste is to your liking and adjust either way. Scoop the filling into the base of the tart, spread out with the back of a spoon or spatula.

Halve the larger strawberries, pile all of the fruit on top of the filling. Sprinkle with the pistachio and rose petals (if using). Pop in the fridge while you make the sauce.

Put everything for the sauce into a small pan and bring to the boil, simmer for 10 minutes and then turn off the heat. Pass through a sieve into a bowl and cool, add another tablespoon of Creme de Cassis if you like. Once cooled, spoon about a third of it over the strawberries, serve the rest when your serve it.

 

 

Serves 6

Ingredients

Pastry

90g butter softened –plus extra to coat your tart tin

65g caster sugar

3 free-range egg yolks

200g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

Filling

300g pack cream cheese

2 tablespoon full fat crème fraiche

1 rounded teaspoon lime zest

3-4 tablespoons lime juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2-3 tablespoon icing sugar (depending how sweet you like it)

Topping

350-400g beautiful strawberries, hulled

1 dessertspoon chopped pistachio

a few dried rose petals (optional)

Strawberry and Cassis Sauce

300g frozen strawberries

2 tablespoons sugar

50ml orange juice

50ml Creme de Cassis