Fruit Tart

I made this delicious fruit tart and it was very easy but took a little more time.

First you need to make the pastry cream.

Pastry cream

INGREDIENTS
*1 cup milk
*75g castor sugar
*3 egg yolks
*25g plain flour
*1 tsp butter

METHOD

Heat milk slowly with 50g of the sugar. Whisk the yolks with 25g of the sugar. When yolk mixture is pale and thick, add the flour and then gradually whisk in the boiling milk. Transfer to a clean saucepan and stir continually until the custard thickens. It will thicken quickly so stir vigorously.

Place pan on a simmer mat and cook for 2 minutes, stirring all the while. Remove from heat, scoop into a bowl and skim the surface with the teaspoon of butter to prevent a skin forming. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Note: Can be made two days ahead and stored in the fridge if that is more convenient. When needed, push the pastry cream through a strainer into a bowl to loosen it and to ensure there are no lumps.

Once the pastry cream is made, you can start making the tart.

INGREDIENTS
*1 quantity shortcrust pastry
*1 egg white
*1 quantity pastry cream
*250ml cream (1 cup)
*500g fresh fruit
*200g pot of fruit jam (redcurrant, blackcurrant, apple)
*2 tbsp water

Preheat oven to 200C.

METHOD

Make shortcrust pastry according to your favourite recipe or just buy it from the supermarket in frozen packets like what I did. It still tastes great. Line a 26cm loose-bottomed flan tin or 6 x 12cm loose-bottomed flan tins with pastry, foil and pastry weights. Chill for 30 minutes.

Bake for 20 minutes until golden-brown. Carefully remove pastry weights and foil. Brush base of tarts with the egg white and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes. Allow tart shells to cool completely.

Press the cool pastry cream through a coarse sieve into a large bowl. Whip cream to firm peaks. Whisk cream with pastry cream.

Melt jam in a small pan with the water, stirring until it is quite smooth. Remove from heat.

Fill pastry case or cases with pastry cream. Arrange fruit tightly on top of the cream so that there are no spaces. Carefully brush the fruit with the cooled jam.

And there you have it, a beautifully tasty fruit tart. You can put any fruits on, but berries always look so good.