strawberry and rhubarb tart

The first thing to push its way through the ground in our potager is the rhubarb.  Deep red stalks full of promise and abundance.

I love rhubarb compote but also tarts, and best of all when associated with strawberries, conveniently in season at the same time.

Here is a yummy and ridiculously easy recipe for a wonderful strawberry and rhubarb tart.

To make the tart or tarts you will need 

about 8 oz of fresh rhubarb, 

sugar to taste,

 1 lemon ,

 12 oz of strawberries and  

enough pastry for a tart mould or for 8 small moulds,

Buy or make your favourite sweet pastry and line the tart tin, either a long rectangular or round mould or several individual moulds.  Pre-bake the pastry, blind to begin with  (covered with parchment paper and weighted down)  then finished off for a few minutes to golden brown.

Make a rhubarb compote by cutting the rhubarb into small pieces and cooking with  sugar until soft.  Check the sweetness once cooled.  Rhubarb tends to need a lot of sugar but I can't give a precise quantity.  It's up to you to taste your rhubarb and find the sweetness you like best.

Wash and hull the srawberries then cut into long slices or into half.  Reseve a handful of strawberries and whizz them in your mixer with a little sugar and lemon juice.

When the pastry is cooked and cooled, lift it from it's baking tray onto the serving platter.  Gently spoon the rhubarb compote into the pastry case, but don't put in so much that it overflows.

Carefully position the strawberries all over the rhubarb in neat lines or circles and serve the tart with the pink red strawberry coulis in a small side bowl to accompany.  If you wish to add a little vanilla ice cream, it's good too.

This is a lovely fresh dessert, making use of fruit that is freshly picked and in season, so at its best.