Rhubarb tart with crème pâtissière

Rhubarb tart with custard cream, although this popular custard is also known as French pastry cream (crème pâtissière). I use it in cakes and desserts, cupcakes, éclairs… it’s probably my favourite recipe for this cream. It’s a must in this tart – it holds its shape, doesn’t release water and is absolutely delicious with all kinds of fruit. Try it with roasted rhubarb!

Ingredients for the shortcrust pastry:

• 200 g plain flour
• 90 g cold butter, cut into cubes
• 30 g cold lard*, cut into cubes
• 60 g icing sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 2–3 tbsp cold water

Sift the flour into a bowl. Add the butter and lard and quickly rub or cut them into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, salt and cold water and quickly bring the dough together. Alternatively, you can prepare it in a food processor. Shape the dough into a ball, wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30–60 minutes.

Grease a 24 cm tart tin with butter and dust with flour, shaking off any excess. Roll out the chilled dough to approximately 3 mm thick and use it to line the tin. Chill again for 30 minutes. Dust the chilled pastry lightly with flour and cover with baking paper. Fill with ceramic baking beans to weigh the pastry down (you can also use dried beans or rice).

Preheat the oven to 220°C. Reduce the temperature to 190°C, place the pastry in the oven and blind bake for 15 minutes. Remove the tin from the oven, carefully remove the baking paper and weights, reduce the temperature to 180°C, return the pastry to the oven and bake for a further 10 minutes, or until golden and fully baked. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Ingredients for the vanilla crème pâtissière:

• 600 ml milk
• seeds scraped from 1 vanilla pod
• 6 large egg yolks
• 100 g caster sugar
• 40 g plain flour
• 40 g potato starch

In a large saucepan, bring the milk and vanilla seeds to the boil. Remove from the heat immediately.

Place the egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk until pale and creamy. Add the flour and potato starch and continue mixing until you have a smooth paste. Add 100 ml of the hot milk and mix until combined. Pour the tempered egg mixture into the saucepan with the remaining hot milk and mix well. Return to the hob over medium heat and bring to the boil, stirring frequently. Once boiling, cook for about 1 minute, stirring constantly, until the custard thickens. Remove from the heat. Cover the surface of the custard directly with cling film and leave to cool completely. Do not stir while it is cooling.

Ingredients for the roasted rhubarb:

• 250 g rhubarb, cut into 3–4 cm pieces (do not peel)
• freshly squeezed juice of ½ an orange
• 30 g sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

Mix all the ingredients together and transfer to an ovenproof dish or a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake at 180°C for about 15 minutes, or until the rhubarb has softened slightly. It should not fall apart; the pieces should retain their shape. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Assembly:

Fill the tart shell with the crème pâtissière. Arrange the roasted rhubarb on top, draining off any excess juice first. For decoration, you can also crumble a few small meringues over the tart.

Rhubarb tart with crème pâtissière should be stored in the refrigerator. Remove it from the fridge at least 30 minutes before serving so that the pastry can soften slightly, as shortcrust pastry becomes firm when chilled.

* Lard makes the pastry especially crisp and crumbly, but you can replace it with an additional 30 g of butter.

Enjoy!