I don’t know about you but Summer to me screams rhubarb, more specifically strawberry rhubarb tart. My parents always had a healthy bush of rhubarb as did our neighbour which meant the harvests were aplenty.
Summer evenings were spent in the garden, sitting around the table enjoying the last rays of sunlight. As the tart made its way out, you could hear my dad calling the neighbour to join us for a slice. In the event his voice didn’t quite carry two gardens over, a piece was saved for later. Needless to say, this dessert brings back such fond memories that it is definitely worth sharing.
Ingredients
Filling
- 500 g rhubarb
- 250 g strawberries
- 100 g sugar
Tart Crust
- 200 g flour
- 100 g butter
- 125 ml water
- a pinch of salt
Preparation
For the tart crust
- If you read the lemon tart recipe, the crust will look familiar, because it’s exactly the same!
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt and cold butter with your fingers until a crumbly dough forms.
- Add a small glass of tepid water and mix all the ingredients into a ball. Wrap it in a clean dishcloth before letting it rest in the fridge for a few hours. Ideally, this step is done the day before.
- Once rested, let the dough come to room temperature and roll it out on a floured surface. This is when you can also preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F).
- Line your tart pan with parchment paper and lay your pastry down.
- Poke in some holes using a fork and blind bake the pastry until you start to see a little colour around the parameter.
For the filling
- Roughly chop your washed rhubarb stems. Transfer them into a bowl and cover them in sugar to rest.This can also be done the day before.
- Once the rhubarb has given out its juice, prepare your strawberries by washing them and removing their leaves. If needed, you can roughly chop them.
- Over medium heat, put your rhubarb and strawberries into a large saucepan, and cover for 10 minutes. You can check them occasionally and give the fruit a stir.
- The fibrous rhubarb will breakdown gradually and the mixture will start to bubble. If you sense it’s about to overflow, turn the heat down. Keep stirring the mixture for another 10-15 minutes or until it thickens.
- If you aren’t a fan of chunks of strawberries, use a fork to homogenize the filling. Don’t forget to taste the mixture along the way to adjust its sweetness.
- Once your filling is ready, pour it into the blind-baked tart shell and pop it back in the oven for 7-10 minutes or until you start to see a slight caramelization of the fruit on the top.
- Let the tart cool down and set completely.
- Serve with either whipped cream or a ball of vanilla ice cream. And, don’t forget to save a slice for your neighbour!
There we have it! The beauty of this strawberry rhubarb tart is that each component can be made in advance. Another advantage is that the ingredients for the filling can easily be frozen when in season, so as to be enjoyed later on during the year.
Bon appetit!
