Lately I've been cooking and baking with a lot of different fruit, and today when I glanced in to the fridge and spotted some ruby red rhubarb stalks (try saying that 10 times fast), I knew I had to make a tart.
One of the important aspects of a tart is the pastry cream. This is a form of custard that sets quite firmly, and is used in things like tarts and profiteroles.
Honestly I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to custard, I just can't stand to use the powder or *gasp* the stuff that comes in a carton!
Custard is something that I think is well worth the effort in making from scratch. There's nothing like a home made custard using gorgeous free range eggs, full cream milk and real vanilla beans, you really can't beat it.
So go on - step away from that custard powder, do not buy the yellow goop in a carton - grab a few simple ingredients and head in to the kitchen, you won't be disappointed...
Pastry Cream
250ml milk
1 vanilla bean split
40g sugar
2 egg yoks
25g flour
Place the milk in a saucepan along with the split vanilla bean - gently heat.
Meanwhile, mix together sugar and eggs until thick and pale.
Gradually add in the flour and mix until combined.
Remove vanilla bean from the heated milk and slowly add half of the milk to the egg mixture while continuously stirring.
Pour the egg mixture back in to the saucepan with the remaining milk and return to heat, constantly stirring until thick.
Remove from heat and place in a bowl to cool, placing cling wrap straight on to the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming.
