This beautiful tart hails from Los Angeles’ Republique Bakery, whose co-owner Margarita Manzke is a five-time James Beard semi-finalist for outstanding pastry chef. This, she says in her new cookbook, “Baking at Republique” (Ten Speed Press, $30), is “a great tart to make when strawberries are in season because it highlights the beauty of the strawberries. I took inspiration from the strawberry tarts they make in France, with frangipane and whipped cream, or diplomat cream — whipped cream and pastry cream folded together.”
French tarts are glazed, so the fruit looks glossy but, she notes, “that’s not really necessary.”
The tart is rather involved, but some of the components, the pate sucree dough, for example, and the pastry cream, can be made a day or two ahead.
Strawberry-Pistachio Tart
Makes one 9-inch tart
Pate Sucree
2 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup almond flour
½ cup plus ½ tablespoon unsalted butter
¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
1 egg, beaten
Directions:
Sift the all-purpose and almond flours together in a large bowl. Using an electric stand mixer, combine the butter and powdered sugar, beating until pale. Add the egg and continue to cream until incorporated and the mixture doesn’t look broken. Add the flour all at once and continue to mix on low speed until the dough just comes together. Form the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes. (If you aren’t going to use it within a day or two, put it in the freezer.)
Pastry Cream
Makes 2½ cups
Ingredients:
2 cups whole milk, divided use
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, divided use
1 vanilla pod, split lengthwise
3 tablespoons cornstarch
6 egg yolks
¼ cup cold unsalted butter
Directions:
In a saucepan set over high heat, combine 1½ cups milk and 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon of the sugar. Scrape the vanilla seeds into the pot and drop in the pod. Bring to a boil.
Put the cornstarch, the remaining 1/3 cup sugar and the egg yolks in a bowl and whisk until well incorporated. If there are still any lumps, strain through a fine-mesh sieve.
As soon as the milk comes to a boil, drizzle a little of the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly, to warm it. Remove and discard the vanilla pod. Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan and continue to cook, whisking continuously until the mixture returns to a boil and thickens, 2 to 3 minutes. Cook for 1 additional minute so the starch cooks out.
Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the butter and mix on low speed until cooled, about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare an ice water bath in a large stainless-steel bowl in which you can nest another wide bowl. Transfer the pastry cream to a wide bowl and cover with plastic wrap, laying it directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Place the bowl in the ice water bath and let the pastry cream cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until ready to use, or for up to 3 days.
Pistachio Cream and Tart
½ cup plus 1 teaspoon unsalted butter
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 cup pistachio flour
¼ cup all-purpose flour
Pinch of fine sea salt
½ cup strawberry-rhubarb or strawberry jam
1 cup pastry cream
8½ ounces strawberries, hulled and cut in quarters
Chopped toasted pistachios, for garnish
Directions:
Unwrap the pate sucree dough and place it on the work surface. Pound the disk with a rolling pin to flatten it a little. Place the dough between two large sheets of parchment paper. Roll out the dough to 1⁄8 inch thick. Remove the top piece of parchment from the sheet of dough.
Invert the dough over a 9-inch tart pan and remove the second piece of parchment. Gently fit the dough into the pan, turning the pan as you work to fit the dough snugly inside with minimal overlap. Make sure the dough is pressed all the way down into the bottom corners. Trim away the excess around the rim.
Prick the tart dough all over the bottom and sides with a fork. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and chill in the freezer for 20 minutes.
Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Remove the tart dough from the freezer and bake until light golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool on a cooling rack.
To make the pistachio cream: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition to fully incorporate before adding the next.
Add the pistachio flour, all-purpose flour and salt to the mixer and continue to mix until incorporated.
Transfer the pistachio cream to a pastry bag. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Keep the oven at 350 degrees. Spoon a small amount of strawberry jam into the bottom of the tart shell. Pipe the pistachio cream into the tart shell, filling it halfway full. Level with an offset spatula. Bake until light golden brown and set, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool completely.
Using an offset spatula, spread the pastry cream over the pistachio cream layer, filling the tart to the top of the shell and leveling the surface.
Place the quartered strawberries around the tart shell in a circle with the wider side of the strawberry sitting at the edge of the tart. Garnish with a sprinkle of chopped pistachios. Serve immediately.
Reprinted with permission from Baking at Republique by Margarita Manzke, © 2019. Published by Lorena Jones Books, a division of Penguin Random House, Inc.
