Strawberry & Cream Tart

Recipe by Mat Follas for The happy egg co.

This is a great summer tart with cream and a vanilla custard base off-setting the delicious flavours of both cooked and fresh strawberries

Strawberry & Cream Tart

PREPARE 30 MINUTES  COOK 30 MINUTES

SERVES 8

Pastry
200g Plain flour
100g Salted butter, kept cold in the fridge
50g Icing sugar
Cold water, as needed
3 happy egg Yolks
(keep the whites for glazing the pastry)

Filling
250g Strawberries
2 tsp Vanilla Essence
50g Caster sugar
150ml Milk
150ml Double cream
2 happy eggs
2 happy egg yolks
Pinch of salt

200ml whipping cream for decoration
25g Icing Sugar

.  .  .  .  .  .

To make the Tart

Pastry
In a bowl, scrape the butter into small pieces, then, whilst slowly
adding the flour, press and mix the ingredients to make a crumble
mixture. Once it’s crumbly, add the icing sugar and egg yolks and
mix through to bind the mixture loosely. If the mixture will not bind
together, add 1 tsp of cold water and continue to mix. Only add 1
tsp of water at a time and never more than 4 tsp of water in total.

Place the pastry on a piece of clingfilm, wrap tightly, then roll into
a sausage shape and place in the fridge for 60 minutes.

We need to blind-bake the tart base. On a floured surface, roll-out
the pastry to a thickness of a £1 coin. Gently place the pastry in a
floured tart tin and mould it into the corners with your fingers;
don’t tidy the edges yet because the pastry will shrink when it is
baked (save a little of the pastry in case cracks or holes form
during the blind baking).

Prick with a fork all over, to stop it from rising and place in a
preheated oven at 180°C for 8 minutes.

Remove from the oven, check for any holes or cracks and patch
them with your spare pastry. Allow the tart to cool for 5 minutes,
glaze it with the beaten egg white (this will seal the base of the
tart) and place back in the oven for a further 2 minutes. Remove
from the oven, and trim the edges with a sharp knife.

Filling
Wash and hull the strawberries, cut each into approx four slices,
separate into two equal amounts and set aside.

Make the custard by whisking together the eggs, egg yolks, vanilla
essence, caster sugar, milk, double cream and salt. Whisk until it
is smooth and fully combined. Add half the strawberries and
gently fold-in.

To finish
Turn the oven down to 140°C. Pour the custard into the tart base
ensuring the strawberries are evenly spread.

Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Check it’s cooked by
lightly shaking the tin, the mixture should be firm but still a bit
wobbly, like a jelly (it will continue to cook for a while once
removed from the oven).

Whip the cream and icing sugar until the peaks hold.

To serve, decorate the tart with the other half of the strawberries
and pipe the whipped cream in a pattern. Slice and serve.

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The happy egg co.

In 2010, I was proud to be asked to become brand ambassador for the happy egg co.

The happy egg co. is the UK’s number one brand of free range eggs, and believe that hen welfare is key.

The happy egg co. are firmly of the belief that happy hens lay wonderfully tasty eggs, which is why they want to be experts in hen husbandry and ahead of the game to make sure the girls are as happy as can be. They’ve even won a Good Egg award from Compassion in World Farming in recognition of all their hard work.

They believe that hens enjoy being busy and that’s why they not only provide wide open pastures for the hens to roam and forage, but also equip all of their farms with an assortment of activities to enhance the hens’ natural environment. This includes play kits for perching, sandpits, trees and brashings. Only specially selected British free range farms are chosen to become happy egg farms, all of which are approved by both the British Lion Standard and RSPCA Freedom Food.