Strawberry Summer Tart

I love making tarts with fresh fruit in the summer and this one worked out really well. The dough is easy to make and handle. You can replace the strawberries with any fresh fruit you like.

Strawberry Summer Tart

Sweet Dough

    1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

    3 tablespoons white sugar

    1/4 teaspoon salt

    2/3 cup unsalted butter, very cold

    1 egg, beaten

    1 vanilla bean

White Chocolate Pastry Cream

    3 egg yolks

    2 ½ tablespoons sugar

    1 tablespoon cornstarch

    1 cup milk

    1/2 vanilla bean, halved

    1 tablespoon butter

    2 ounces white chocolate

    2 cups strawberries  
    ¼ cup red currant jelly

    1 tbsp water

1. Sift the flour, sugar, and salt together into a bowl.
2. Grate the butter into the flour mix using the big hole side of a box grater. Rub fat into flour until you have a coarse meal.
3. Make a well in center of the flour mixture. Beat the egg and vanilla together in a small bowl and pour the mixture into the well. Using a fork, draw crumbs into the egg mixture, pulling the dough together. Knead the dough until it forms a ball, just a few times, until a smooth dough is formed. Shape into a disk, cover with plastic wrap, refrigerate for 20 minutes.   
4. Roll the dough out to 1/8 inch thickness. Place the rolled dough into a lightly floured tart pan with a removable bottom, making sure the dough is pressed into the sides. Trim the excess from the top of the pan. Prick the bottom of the tart shell with a fork and place it in the fridge.
5. In a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch together until pale yellow.   Set aside.
6. In a stainless steel saucepan, bring milk and vanilla bean to a boil, remove from heat and remove vanilla bean. Add the hot milk slowly into the egg yolk mixture, whisking so that it mixes in quickly. Return the mixture to the heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon until it starts to thicken.
7. When you see it thicken, and before it boils, remove from it from the heat and stir in butter and white chocolate until it has melted. Set the pastry cream aside.
8. Heat oven to 425 degrees F and position shelf in lower third of oven. Place the chilled tart shell in the oven and bake for 10 - 15 minutes. 
9. Remove the shell from the oven and pour the pastry cream over it, spreading it evenly. Return it to the oven and bake it another 15 minutes, or until the filling starts to bubble a bit and the crust starts to brown. Remove from the oven and cool.
10. Clean the strawberries and cut them in quarters. Place them nicely on the tart.
11. Heat the jelly with the water  in a small pot. When it is hot and melted, remove it from the heat and paint the tart with it. Be generous, letting it fill the cracks. Cool the tart then serv.