No apologies, but here is another strawberry tart recipe. It is one of Geoff’s favourites and the rose custard is really delicious. This is an updated version of the recipe which first appeared in a 2012 newsletter.
Strawberry and Rose Petal Tart
Pre-heat the oven to 190ᴼC
For the pastry
12 oz plain flour
6 oz butter
1 oz ground almonds
1 oz caster sugar
Cold
water to bind
Make the pastry in the time honoured way and line a 23-24 cm flan case. Prick the base with a fork. Chill in the fridge for 20 minutes. Line the chilled pastry case with greaseproof paper and baking
beans. Bake blind for 10 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and bake for a further 5 minutes. Cool and remove from tin.
For the confectioner’s custard
1
vanilla pod ¾ pt milk
2 eggs
1½ oz cornflour
2 oz caster sugar
2 – 6 (depending on size) highly scented
roses – if they aren’t they’ll be no good.
Slit the vanilla pod (don’t forget to extract the black gummy seed mixture with a knife – this delicious stuff contains most of the flavour),
soak it in the milk with the rose petals and bring nearly to boiling point. Allow to cool and strain. Whisk the eggs, sugar and cornflour together, add a little of the cooled milk, stir to mix thoroughly then whisk into the rest of the milk. Bring slowly to
the boil and whisk thoroughly when it begins to thicken. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Assemble the tart
Hull and halve 1 lb strawberries. Spoon the
custard into the flan case then put the strawberries on top.
NB – use roses that haven’t been sprayed. Do not wash the petals – just shake any creepy-crawlies out!