Rhubarb and Custard Tart

As promised for those of you who have been so nice about my first attempt to make real custard with our free-range eggs, here is the recipe for my Rhubarb and Custard tart. This is my favourite type of recipe, one I have slightly cobbled together based on the current glut of produce from the garden. This is exactly the recipe I used, however the pastry was deep enough to take more custard (or more fruit), so I may increase the ingredients next time.

For the pastry – you can use ready-made puff or short crust pastry, but I like to make my own (short crust). This makes enough pastry for a rectangular tin 27cm (10 ½”) by 17cm (6 ½”) and 3.5cm deep (1 ½”) – this is my preferred tin for all quiches/tarts.

135g plain flour

75g butter

1 tablespoon caster sugar

1 egg beaten

a little cold water

Using cold fingers rub the butter into the flour until breadcrumb like consistency. Add the sugar, then the egg and enough water to just bring it to a dough. Wrap in clingfilm and leave to rest for at least half an hour in the fridge.

Line the tin with baking paper, then roll out the chilled dough on the paper. Fit into the tin, prick the base with a fork, line with more baking paper, add baking beans and bake blind until cooked and nicely golden. Leave to cool.

For the custard filling

250 ml milk

3 egg yolks

20 g plain flour

50 g caster sugar

Heat the milk to just boiling.

Whisk together the egg yolks, flour and sugar then pour the hot milk over and whisk to combine. Pour this mix back into the saucepan and heat gently, stirring all the time until it thickens to desired consistency, which happens as it reaches boiling point. Be careful not to scramble the eggs! Once thick enough, place in a bowl and to stop a skin forming place some clingfilm on the top of the custard. Leave to chill, then spoon over the cooked pastry shell and top with cooked rhubarb and serve.

The finished Rhubarb and Custard Tart

My first attempt was too runny despite leaving it to ‘set’ in the fridge, so I placed the bowl over a pan of simmering water and stirred until I was happier. The runny custard was delicious and would have been perfect to top a pie, but I wanted it spreadable so I could cut a slice of tart and not lose the rest of the filling. I was very happy with the result, despite it not looking very pretty, you really can’t beat rhubarb and custard as great flavours that work well together. I am, however, already imagining how attractive this would look with fresh raspberries or cherries from the orchard, nestled on top of the custard and glazed with some homemade jam. Roll on summer fruits.

A glut of rhubarb

I have linked this post to Caroles's Chatter Food on Friday Rhubarb linky