Strawberry Tart

a modern version of Shakespearean era Strawberry Tarts

Tart Pastry:

• 1 ¼ cups All-Purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 1 stick (½ cup) chilled butter, cut into marble-sized pieces
• 3-5 Tablespoons ice water

Lemon Curd Layer:

• 2 large eggs
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• ½ cup strained fresh lemon juice (if using a juicer, you can get this from 1 lemon)
• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Filling:

• 4 cups of strawberries, halved
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 Tablespoon flour
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 400°. Mix flour, salt and thyme thoroughly. Add the marble-

sized pieces of butter and mix them in with a pastry cutter and/or your fingertips until the mixture is made up of evenly distributed coarse “crumbs.” Add enough of the ice water to make the dough hold together, starting with 2 tablespoons and adding them one at a time after that. Form the pastry into a Brie-sized disk, wrap it in parchment paper and chill it in the refrigerator while you make the lemon curd and filling (at least 30 minutes).

In a medium saucepan, combine the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, and the pinch of salt. Whisk them together until well-combined, then add the lemon juice and continue whisking until everything is well blended. Add the butter pieces and cook over low-medium heat until the butter completely melts, continuing to whisk the whole time. Once the butter has melted, keep whisking (whew!) until the whole mixture thickens – this will take around 10 minutes. When the mixture starts to simmer, remove it from the heat and give it the spoon test (the mixture should stick to the back of a spoon without running when you run your finger through it). Strain the mixture into a bowl, pushing it through the sieve with a rubber spatula (clean up the mess left on and in the sieve right away or else it is pretty tough to clean!). Stir the vanilla into the lemon curd until it is fully combined. Once the lemon curd has cooled a bit, it can go into the refrigerator to completely chill and set.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the strawberries, sugar, flour, and fresh lemon juice. Stir until the sugar and flour are evenly coating the strawberries, then cover the mixture and set in the refrigerator until you are ready to place the strawberries on top of the tart.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the chilled pastry into a 9” circle. Transfer the pastry to a baking sheet (covered with parchment paper) and fold the edges up to hold in the lemon curd and strawberries. Spread the lemon curd over the pastry, then arrange the strawberries into a pretty little pattern on top of the curd.

Bake the tart on the baking sheet/parchment paper for 25 minutes. You will notice that the edges of the tart are lightly browned and the curd in the center of the tart is bubbly. Remove the strawberry tart from the oven and let it cool for at least 10-15 minutes before cutting into it and serving.