Strawberry and Lemon Custard Tart

Ingredients:

Pastry:

125g plain flour

35g icing sugar

60g cold butter

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp water

Lemon Custard:

300ml whole milk

4 egg yolks

90g caster sugar

20g cornflour

Zest of one lemon

Pinch of salt

To top:

Fresh strawberries

Apricot jam (mixed with a splash of water)

Method

1. In a blender, blitz together the flour, icing sugar and butter until it forms a breadcrumb consistency. You can do this by hand it will just take longer, and you want to avoid the butter melting into the flour! Add the egg yolk and blitz again until it starts to clump. If you need a bit more liquid, add the water until the dough comes together and you can form it into a ball.
2. Rest the pastry in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.
3. Roll the pastry out onto a lightly floured surface to around 4mm thick.
4. Line a 7 or 8 inch pastry tin with the pastry, and press down gently on the bottom and sides, trimming off any excess pastry.
5. Use a fork to stab a few holes in the bottom and place in the fridge for another 30 minutes. By chilling the pastry before baking it, it reduces how much it will shrink in the oven.
6. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 190C fan.
7. Once chilled, blind bake the pastry with baking beans for 15 minutes, remove the baking beans, and bake for a further 5 minutes or so until the base is a slight golden brown.
8. Allow the tart case to cool. Meanwhile, make the filling.
9. Over a medium heat, whisk the milk and egg yolks, and add the sugar and cornflour. 
10. Add a pinch of salt and the lemon zest and keep whisking until the custard thickens. You don't want the heat too high or it is going to end up burning on the bottom! 
11. Once the custard is thick, pour it into the cooled tart case and let it cool to room temperature and then chill for a few hours in the fridge.
12. When you are nearly ready to serve, slice up the strawberries and arrange them in a concentric pattern, or however you like! 
13. Mix a small amount of apricot jam with a splash of water and use a pastry brush to just glaze the fruit, this keeps the strawberries fresh if they are going to be out for a while. 
14. Garnish with a sprig of mint and voila! 
15. Enjoy!