This strawberry tart should bring back memories if you follow my blog a little 🙂 It’s a recipe by Christophe Michalak (yes, again!) that I took from the book Best-Of Christophe Michalak (a gift for my birthday). And I have plenty to work with because in this same Best-Of collection, I also got the best-ofs of Philippe Conticini, Pierre Hermé, Christophe Adam and Claire Hetzler.
I’ve already made a strawberry-pistachio tart Christophe Michalak style but the base of the cake was made up of a shortbread and an almond cream. In this (almost) new recipe, the base of the cake is made up of a Linzer shortbread and a soft pistachio sponge. For the rest, the recipe is identical: a strawberry confit (which I replaced with shop-bought strawberry jam), a pistachio whipped ganache, strawberries and chopped pistachios. I’m giving you Christophe Michalak’s original recipe (with the strawberry confit, then), it’s up to you to see and adapt if necessary!
Just like the previous dessert, which was very similar, this strawberry-pistachio tart is a unanimous hit with guests, in particular my sweetheart but also my mother-in-law, a pistachio fan! Even though I didn’t eat any myself, seeing everyone enjoying it is pure happiness! So it’s a recipe I absolutely recommend you make if you want to please and impress your loved ones a little!
Ingredients & preparation
5 components · Full recipe
Pistachio Whipped Ganache (make the day before)
Ingredients
- 220 g (7.8 oz) liquid cream
- 100 g (3.5 oz) white couverture chocolate
- 15 g (0.5 oz) pistachio paste
Preparation
1
In a small saucepan, heat the liquid cream with the pistachio paste. Stir until smooth 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 leave to cover for 2 minutes. Stir to melt the chocolate and obtain a smooth, homogeneous mixture.
4
Refrigerate overnight.
Linzer Pastry
Ingredients
- 120 g (4.2 oz) plain flour
- 4 g (0.1 oz) baking powder
- 20 g (0.7 oz) icing sugar
- 110 g (3.9 oz) unsalted butter
- 5 g (0.2 oz) rum
- 20 g (0.7 oz) ground almonds
- 4 g (0.1 oz) fleur de sel
Preparation
1
Preheat the oven to 160°C / 325°F.
2
Mix the flour with the baking powder, icing sugar, butter, rum, ground almonds and salt.
3
Roll out this mixture between two sheets of parchment paper to 2 mm. Cut out a 20×20 cm (7.9 in) rectangle using a stainless-steel frame.
4
Bake for approximately 20 minutes.
Soft Pistachio Cake
Ingredients
- 60 g (2.1 oz) ground almonds
- 110 g (3.9 oz) icing sugar
- 15 g (0.5 oz) cornstarch
- 50 g (1.8 oz) ground pistachios
- 30 g (1.1 oz) pistachio paste
- 1 egg yolk (20 g (0.7 oz))
- 5 egg whites (160 g (5.6 oz))
- 40 g (1.4 oz) caster sugar
- 1/2 pinch of fleur de sel
- 80 g (2.8 oz) unsalted butter
Preparation
1
Lower the oven temperature to 180°C / 350°F, then melt the butter.
2
In a food processor, blend the ground almonds, icing sugar, cornstarch, ground pistachios, pistachio paste, egg yolk and 80 g (2.8 oz) of raw egg whites.
3
Whip the remaining egg whites with the caster sugar and the ½ pinch of salt.
4
Fold this mixture into the previous one, then add the melted butter.
5
Pour the soft cake batter over the Linzer pastry and bake for approximately 15 minutes, until the cake is firm (I baked it a little longer).
Strawberry Compote
Ingredients
- 250 g (8.8 oz) strawberries
- 40 g (1.4 oz) light brown sugar
- 2 g (0.1 oz) NH pectin
Preparation
1
Wash, hull and blend the strawberries.
2
In a saucepan, boil the purée with the light brown sugar and the NH pectin (previously mixed together) for 1 minute.
Assembly
Ingredients
- 100 g (3.5 oz) strawberry jam
- 600 g (21.2 oz) strawberries
- 50 g (1.8 oz) crushed pistachios
Preparation
1
Using a spatula or a tablespoon, spread the strawberry jam over the cake.
2
Put 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 with a hand blender.
3
Using a brush, generously coat the sides of the cake with the jam and water mixture.
4
If you have a cardboard base, carefully slide it under the cake.
5
Crush the pistachios using a small food processor.
6
Lift the cake with one hand and with the other coat the sides with the crushed pistachios (save some for the final decoration).
7
Quickly rinse the strawberries.
8
Trim the base of the strawberries with a small knife. Try to make them roughly the same height and arrange them on top of the cake.
9
Brush the strawberries with the jam and water mixture to make them glossy.
10
Take the ganache out of the fridge and whip it like a chantilly cream. You should obtain a thicker, creamier whipped ganache.
11
Sprinkle the pistachio ganache with a few crushed pistachios.
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