It is amazing what these red stalks turn into when they are mixed with a little sugar, strawberries and wrapped up in delicious pastry dough. STRAWBERRY RHUBARB TART is the obvious, however it is so much more than that. As a child our neighbours grew rhubarb. They would give my mother stalks of rhubarb to put in her pies. I have fond memories of rhubarb with sugar sprinkled on top.
A few weeks ago I spent a few hours in a book store. I was browsing through cookbooks and came across Tartine's Cookbook. Given that I had eaten breakfast there a few weeks ago I spent hours studying the recipes. On one page there was a photo of a fruit tart. My mouth started to water. I thought what a great idea, why don't I bake a fruit tart.
While the plan was good there was one slight problem. The fairy pastry goddess had yet to pay me a visit. My pastry sucks. There is no nice way of putting it. Try as I do, I have never mastered the skill of pastry. How hard can it be. Butter, flour and ice cold water. The thought of fruit tarts faded away until I went to the produce store. There were stalks of bright red rhubarb and plumb strawberries. This was it, I was determined to enjoy a rhubarb tart. Off I went in search of a recipe. I remembered reading recently about using ice cold water. That afternoon I purchased a pastry cutter. I am not sure if this was the magic I had been searching for all along, however my pastry was perfect.
The tart was just as I imagined it. Tarty, slighty bitter rhubarb with sweet strawberries. The crust was flaky. I must say I enjoyed shaping the crust around the fruit. Hooray!!! I finally conquered the fine art of pastry.
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