Another recipe from chef Christophe Michalak: a strawberry and pistachio tart. A real delight, if the blog C’est ma fournée, which inspired this recipe, is to be believed. And it was true! It’s a tart I made for the end-of-year meal at my school and it was a huge success. This tart is made up of a shortbread, an almond cream topped with a little strawberry jam, strawberries and a pistachio whipped ganache, all sprinkled with chopped pistachios!
Very easy to make and even fairly quick — the longest part for me was shelling the pistachios (yes, my pistachios weren’t blanched!). It was apparently “the best dessert” I’d made so far (and my colleagues are used to eating my pastries ^_^). The shortbread biscuit won everyone over. So I’ll be making it again very soon 🙂
Ingredients & preparation
4 components · Full recipe
Whipped Pistachio Ganache (to be made the day before)
Ingredients
- 180 g (6.3 oz) full-fat liquid cream
- 80 g (2.8 oz) Valrhona ivory couverture chocolate
- 15 g (0.5 oz) pistachio paste
Preparation
1
In a small saucepan, heat the liquid cream with the pistachio paste. Stir to combine and bring to the boil.
2
While the cream heats, break the white chocolate into pieces in a bowl.
3
As soon as the cream simmers, pour it over the chocolate and cover for 2 minutes. Stir to melt the chocolate and obtain a smooth, homogeneous mixture.
4
Refrigerate for at least 2 hours (or better, a whole night). If you’re in a hurry, 30 minutes to 1 hour in the freezer can do the trick.
Shortbread
Ingredients
- 100 g (3.5 oz) cold salted butter
- 50 g (1.8 oz) icing sugar
- 115 g (4.1 oz) plain flour (type 55)
Preparation
1
Preheat the oven to 160°C / 325°F.
2
Rub the mixture with both hands until it resembles sand.
3
Roll the dough out immediately to a 5 mm thickness between two sheets of parchment paper.
4
Cut the dough using the frame (you can butter it first, though I didn’t).
5
Bake for just 10 minutes (this is simply a par-bake).
Almond Cream
Ingredients
- 75 g (2.6 oz) light brown sugar
- 75 g (2.6 oz) ground almonds
- 25 g (0.9 oz) full-fat liquid cream
- 75 g (2.6 oz) softened unsalted butter
- 75 g (2.6 oz) egg
Preparation
1
Mix together the ground almonds, light brown sugar, butter and cream.
2
Add the eggs and mix with a spatula without incorporating air, as this would cause the cream to puff up during baking — something to avoid.
3
Remove the shortbread from the oven.
4
Pour the almond cream over the hot biscuit. It will liquefy and spread perfectly within the frame. Set the oven to 170°C / 340°F and bake for about twenty minutes. The cream should be nicely golden and the shortbread fully baked (not too pale).
5
Using a knife, carefully loosen the biscuit from the frame and remove it. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Assembly
Ingredients
- 150 g (5.3 oz) strawberry jam
- 40 g (1.4 oz) whole blanched pistachios
- 1 tbsp water
- 650 g (22.9 oz) strawberries
Preparation
1
Using a spatula or tablespoon, spread the strawberry jam over the biscuit.
2
Place the remaining jam in a small saucepan with 1 tablespoon of water and bring to the boil for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat, then blend using a hand blender.
3
Using a pastry brush, generously coat the sides of the biscuit with the jam and water mixture.
4
If you have a cake card, slide it carefully under the biscuit.
5
Blitz the pistachios in a small food processor.
6
Lift the biscuit with one hand and, with the other, press the crushed pistachios onto the sides (reserve a little for the final decoration).
7
Quickly rinse the strawberries.
8
Trim the base of the strawberries with a small knife so they are all roughly the same height, then arrange them on the biscuit.
9
Brush the strawberries with the jam and water mixture so they become nicely glossy.
10
Remove the ganache from the fridge and whip it like a chantilly cream. You should obtain a thicker, creamier whipped ganache.
11
Pipe or spoon the whipped pistachio ganache over the tart and sprinkle with the remaining crushed pistachios.
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