Strawberry Tart

Strawberry Tart 

Of late the markets in Calcutta are being painted red with all those beautiful strawberries which seem irresistible. Now I have wanted to make a Strawberry Cake for the longest time but getting hold of good quality fresh cream can be a daunting task in Calcutta and so I eventually enjoy these plump sweet and sour delights by themselves or make preserves out of them.

Ever since I bought this edition of recipes from Larousse Gastronomique I have been extremely happy. In-between office work I keep checking the book for recipes to mark and create. It was one such day when I was aimlessly flipping through the pages when I came across the recipe for strawberry tart.

What immediately caught my attention was the pure love for strawberries that this classic recipe expressed. There wasn't any pastry cream which was exactly what caught my attention. I wanted a recipe which solely depended on crisp buttery shortcrust pastry and the delightful taste of strawberries and nothing else.

This is part of our ongoing virtual event 'Kickstarting Christmas' which I am hosting with Pritha from Guilt Free. Do check out this lip smacking Mango Spiced Glazed Roast Chicken from her blog.

Recipe source :
Larousse Gastronomique

So here goes the recipe :-

1 kilogram of strawberries washed hulled and macerated with  50gm castor sugar and juice from 1 lemon
1/4th cup strawberry jam


For the pastry :-

300gm all purpose flour
150 gm butter which is chilled and chopped into tiny pieces and re-chilled.
2 tbsp water ice cold water


Start by mixing the chopped chilled butter with the flour till you get a breadcrumb like consistency. Work as fats as possible and add the water and make a dough as quickly as possible and chill for 15 minutes and then flour a surface and roll it out and line a buttered tart pan with the dough trimming off any extra dough and chill for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 180C and blind bake till the edges brown slightly and then let it cool in the tart pan for 20 minutes and then take it out of the pan and cool on the wire rack for the entire night.

The next day drain the strawberries and let it dry and in the meanwhile mix the jam and the liquid from maceration to make a jellied consistency. It is important to note that the consistency cannot be liquid at all else it will make your tart base soggy. Now fill the tart with this jellied consistency and arrange the strawberries and chill and serve with a dollop of creme fraiche.

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