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Raymond Blanc’s Strawberry and Mascarpone Tart

Raymond Blanc’s Strawberry and Mascarpone Tart

A crowd-pleaser extraordinaire, and so easy to make!

"Light, crisp and with a blend of strawberries, mascarpone creaminess and raspberry jam, this is an excellent tart for a summer’s day. It is a sweet conclusion to a barbecue, or a treat to pack in a picnic. Make your own pastry, or keep things simple and go for a shop-bought, prebaked pastry case."

If using shop-bought, a little tip: place the pastry case in an oven preheated to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4 until it has achieved a golden biscuit colour. By baking it again, you bring the pastry back to life - adding colour, texture and, ultimately, flavour. Small pastry tartlet cases can also be used. 

Serves 6–8 

 

Ingredients 

  • 1 shortcrust pastry case, precooked, about 20cm diameter (shop-bought or make your own) 
  • Icing sugar, for dusting 

 For the filling:

  • 400g strawberries 
  • 500g mascarpone 
  • 50ml double cream 
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla essence  
  • ½ lemon 
  • 200g raspberry jam, preferably seedless 

 

Method

Wash and hull the strawberries
In a large bowl, mix the mascarpone, double cream and vanilla paste and add the zest of the lemon half. Put aside.
Spread the raspberry jam onto the base of the pastry case. Spoon half the mascarpone mixture over the top of the jam and spread it over the tart – don’t worry if it mixes with the jam.

 

Now spread the rest of the mascarpone mixture on top. (Use a piping bag to pipe the mascarpone onto the jam, if you prefer.)

 

Next, the decoration of this summer tart. How should you cut the strawberries for the top? It’s your choice – you can try slices, halves or quarters. Or if you have lots of small strawberries, leave them whole and stand them upright on top of the tart.

 

Once you have decorated the top of the tart with the strawberries, and if you have time, transfer the tart to the fridge for up to 1 hour. Chilling the filling means neat slicing.

This recipe is from Simply Raymond: Recipes from Home by Raymond Blanc (£25, Headline) - out now

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