Strawberry, Vanilla & Pistachio Tart

To make this strawberry, vanilla & pistachio tart recipe, start by preparing all the ingredients for the sweet almond shortcrust pastry.

Sweet almond shortcrust pastry (can be made the day before): Place the room-temperature butter and the previously sifted icing sugar in the stand mixer bowl...

...and cream these two elements together using the paddle attachment.

While mixing, add the fleur de sel.

When the preparation becomes homogeneous, add 28 g of whole eggs while continuing to mix.

Once the egg is fully incorporated, add the flour...

...as well as the almond powder, and continue to knead the preparation at a slow speed (1 or 2)...

...until a homogeneous dough is obtained.

Scrape the bowl to gather all the dough in the centre, and transfer it onto the work surface.

Then work this dough with the palm of your hand by flattening it, as shown in the photo.

Roll the dough back into a ball and place it on a sheet of greaseproof paper.

Cover this ball of dough with a second sheet of greaseproof paper and crush it with the palm of your hand to begin flattening it.

Then roll out the dough with a rolling pin between the two sheets of greaseproof paper.

To obtain an even thickness of 3mm, place the two purple levelling guides on either side, as shown in the photo.

We achieve a perfectly even sheet of sweet almond pastry. Place in the fridge for at least 1 hour until firm. This dough can be made the day before.

Once the dough is nice and firm, take it out of the fridge and remove the first sheet of greaseproof paper.

Then flip everything onto a perforated baking tray covered with a silicone mat, and remove the second sheet of greaseproof paper.

Place a tart ring Ø 18cm on the dough and cut it out by passing the blade of a knife inside the ring.

Remove the excess dough as well as the stainless steel ring. We now have our sweet almond pastry disc.

Then put the ring back in the same place so that the dough coincides perfectly with its edges.

Roll out the remaining sweet almond dough and cut strips to a width of at least 2cm. Press these strips of dough against the rim of the stainless steel ring.

This border will be made with several strips of dough that will be adjusted to each other to go all the way around the ring.

Once the lining is done, remove the excess dough with a paring knife and slide the blade towards the outside.

Here is our tart shell. Let it rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour before baking. It can be made the day before and placed in the freezer.

Strawberry confit (make the day before): Prepare all the ingredients.

Pour the strawberry purée and the 35 g of caster sugar into a saucepan. Heat it up. When the preparation reaches 50°C, add the NH coating pectin previously mixed with the remaining 5 g of caster sugar (this is to avoid the formation of lumps).

Bring everything to a boil and maintain it for 1 minute to activate the properties of the pectin. Cook while mixing the preparation with a whisk.

Add the lemon juice, and remove the saucepan from the hob.

Place the spiral silicone mould on a baking tray, and pour the strawberry confit into one of the two cavities. This operation should be done while the confit is hot.

Cover with cling film directly on the surface and place in the freezer. This preparation can be made several days in advance and kept in the freezer.

Pistachio cream (make the day before): Prepare all the ingredients.

Cream the softened butter and the caster sugar in a bowl using a rigid spatula.

Once the two elements are well combined, add the whole egg and continue mixing, still with the spatula.

Add the almond powder as well as the pistachio powder...

...and mix thoroughly with the spatula. Then finish mixing with a whisk until homogeneous.

Place this pistachio cream in a piping bag (no nozzle) and pipe it into the tart shell just taken out of the fridge or freezer, forming a spiral starting from the centre towards the outside.

Spread the cream with a mini cranked spatula over the entire surface of the pastry base, and to an even thickness.

Scatter the whole shelled pistachios over the cream.

Bake this tart shell in a fan-assisted oven, preheated to 170°C, and cook for 10 to 12 minutes depending on the oven.

At the end of the cooking time, take the tart shell out of the oven. It should not be too coloured on the surface.

Remove the stainless steel ring while the tart shell is still hot. If necessary, pass the blade of a knife between the pastry and the ring to facilitate unmoulding. Let cool on the work surface. It can wait for 24 hours at room temperature without any problem.

Vanilla Namelaka crémeux (make the day before): Prepare all the ingredients. Start by mixing the powdered gelatine with the hydration water (tap or mineral water), and let it hydrate for 15 minutes.

Pour the whole milk into a saucepan and heat it up.

Split two vanilla pods lengthwise and scrape the inside with the tip of a knife to extract the seeds. Weigh the vanilla seeds to get 6 g. Add these vanilla seeds to the milk.

When the milk comes to a boil, remove the saucepan from the hob.

Cover the saucepan by stretching a sheet of cling film over the edges...

...and let infuse for 2 hours.

Once infused, weigh the milk again into a second saucepan.

Top up by adding milk to reach the initial 80 g. Since the infusion caused some milk to evaporate, it is normal for the quantity to have decreased.

Put the saucepan back on the hob...

...and add the dehydrated glucose while mixing with a whisk.

Place the white chocolate in a bowl...

...and melt it in the microwave in 20 to 30-second intervals, mixing every time so it doesn't burn. The chocolate must be entirely melted.

When the milk comes to a boil...

...pour it in 3 batches over the melted chocolate. Mix using a spatula between each addition of milk.

Add the hydrated gelatine, previously melted in the microwave...

...and mix using a Bamix-type hand blender to thoroughly incorporate the gelatine. Then add the whipping cream...

...and mix again with the hand blender until smooth and homogeneous.

Cover the vanilla Namelaka crémeux with cling film directly on the surface...

...and store in the fridge until the next day. This preparation must be made the day before so it chills properly overnight.

The next day, take the crémeux out of the fridge, remove the cling film, and place it in the stand mixer bowl.

Then whip the preparation with the whisk attachment, like a whipped ganache, until the texture is creamy, airy and light. Be careful not to over-whip it.

Transfer this vanilla Namelaka crémeux into a piping bag (no nozzle).

Using a Classic Microplane zester-grater, adjust the edges of the tart by very gently grating the sides to bring regularity and have a perfect finish.

Pipe the vanilla Namelaka cremeux in a spiral from the centre towards the outside onto the tart shell.

Then smooth the surface of the crémeux with a cranked spatula, sliding it from the centre outwards, so that the cream meets the edge of the tart shell.

The surface of the crémeux must be completely flat, as shown in the photo.

Take the swirl mould out of the freezer, and gently release the strawberry confit. It must be frozen through for optimal unmoulding. If your freezer has a "boost" function, turn it on the day before.

Place the frozen strawberry swirl in the centre of the tart. This creates a 2cm border all around the strawberry confit. The insert is opaque because it is frozen, but it will become red and translucent as it thaws.

Garnish: Hull strawberries of the same size, and cut them into quarters.

Then arrange these strawberries all around the confit, on the tart border, pricking them slightly into the vanilla Namelaka crémeux so they stand vertically.

Avoid positioning them too orderly; arrange them in a random manner.

This is what the result should look like. Use as many strawberries as necessary to go all the way around the tart. Do not hesitate to add strawberries in empty areas (the slices should have a generous amount of strawberries).

Finish: Sprinkle pistachio powder around the edge of the tart, directly in contact with the fresh strawberries.

Then place a few blanched whole pistachios in the groove of the swirl so they stay well in place.

When the strawberry confit is partially defrosted and shiny on the surface, finish the decoration by placing a few gold flakes, which will stick to the moist confit (they will not stick to a still-frozen confit).

Here is our decorated strawberry, vanilla & pistachio tart. Leave to defrost for 2 to 3 hours in the fridge before serving (the central swirl must be completely thawed). Enjoy!