Rhubarb, lime and ginger custard tart
-
Published: 25 Sep 18
-
Updated: 18 Mar 24
The magic combination of sweet custard and tart candy-pink rhubarb is a classic flavour match, but we’ve added a twist with the zing of fresh lime and a touch of stem ginger. It’s a winner.
Keep the love for rhubarb alight with our rhubarb and saffron cream tart.
-
Serves 10
-
Hands-on time 1 hour, oven time 1 hour 15-25 min, plus chilling and cooling
Ingredients
For the pastry
- 160g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 90g unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes
- 1 large free-range egg yolk
- 2 tbsp cold water
For the filling
- 100ml single cream
- 1 medium free-range egg, plus 3 medium yolks
- 1 tsp vanilla bean extract
- 100g caster sugar
- 1 ball of stem ginger from a jar, finely chopped, plus 2 tbsp of the syrup
- Juice 2 limes, plus zest to garnish
- 300g rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 2-3cm chunks
You’ll also need…
- Fluted loose-bottomed rectangular tart tin (we used the 35cm x 13.8cm John Lewis Professional non-stick fluted tarte maison tin, £10.50, johnlewis.com). Alternatively, use a 20cm round fluted loose-bottomed tin
Method
- Put the flour and butter in a food processor with a pinch of salt and pulse until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Whisk together the egg yolk and water, then add 1-1½ tbsp of the mixture to the flour and butter. Pulse again until the mixture comes together and forms a dough. (Alternatively, rub the flour, butter and a pinch of salt together with your fingertips to a breadcrumb consistency, then quickly stir in the egg yolk and water mixture with a dinner knife to form a dough.) Use your hands to bring the dough together gently.
- Flatten the pastry into a disc and wrap in cling film. Chill for at least 20 minutes.
- Sprinkle a little flour onto a work surface (see tips) and roll the pastry with a rolling pin to a rectangle (or circle, for a round tin) 3-4cm larger than the tin. Turn the pastry regularly to stop it sticking, dusting with more flour if needed.
- Use the rolling pin to lift the pastry and drape it over the tin, then press the pastry into the edges of the tin, pinching up the sides a bit so the pastry sits just above the level of the tin. Line with foil and fill with ceramic baking beans or uncooked rice, then chill in the freezer for 10 minutes or in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 210°C/190°C fan/gas 6½.
- Blind bake the lined, filled tart case for 20 minutes, then remove the baking beans and bake for a further 5 minutes until the base is golden and feels sandy to the touch. Leave to cool. Using a serrated sharp knife, trim off the excess pastry around the top of the tart case to give a neat edge.
- While the pastry is cooling, turn the oven down to 150°C/130°C fan/gas 2. In a large jug whisk together the cream, whole eggs and yolks, vanilla, sugar, ginger syrup (not the chopped ginger) and lime juice.
- Put the cooled pastry case on a lipped baking sheet and arrange the rhubarb and chopped stem ginger over the base. Pour in the cream mixture. Transfer to the oven and bake for 50 minutes (55-60 minutes if using a round tin) or until set but with a slight wobble in the middle. Leave to cool completely, then sprinkle over lime zest to decorate. Slice diagonally to serve.
Recipe from May 2018 Issue
Nutrition
Nutrition: per serving
- Calories
- 235kcals
- Fat
- 13.5g (7.6g saturated)
- Protein
- 3.9g
- Carbohydrates
- 23.9g (11.6g sugars)
- Fibre
- 1.2g
- Salt
- 0.1g s
delicious. tips
Don’t over-work the pastry as this will make it tough. Be careful, too, not to add too much flour when rolling, as this can also make it tough.
If your work surface is wooden the pastry may stick, so roll it out between two sheets of non-stick baking paper.
Make the pastry dough up to 24 hours ahead, wrap and chill, or freeze for up to 1 month. Make the tart up to 4 hours ahead, cover and chill. Bring up to room temperature to serve.
Resting the pastry in the fridge prevents it from shrinking as
it bakes.