I’ve only discovered the full charm of rhubarb a couple of months ago, when I couldn’t resist buying this most beautiful looking bunch at a local farmer’s market. First time using it, I made a simple jam, and we’ve ever since been hooked on the tanginess, and of course, the bright appealing red helps as well. This time, I made a stewed sauce with a bunch of rhubarb and a punnet of strawberries, and used it to top an all time favourite, frangipane tart. A bit fresher than the Pear and Apricot variations I have posted before, but just comes to show how seasonal a dessert like the tart can be, just using the fruits (or veggies in the case of rhubarb) in season. The ingredients below will do for two smaller tarts, so I like to freeze half the pastry dough and half of frangipane, or you can do a bigger one as well.
INGREDIENTS:
Pastry:
- 200 g white spelt flour
- 50 g ground almonds
- 60 g sugar (I used rapadura, but you can use any type of sugar)
- a pinch of salt
- 125 g butter (cold, cut into little chunks)
- a bit of water if needed
Frangipane:
- 100 g butter (room temperature)
- 80 g coconut sugar
- 120 g ground almonds
- 1.5 tbsp spelt flour
- 1 egg
- A pinch of salt
- a splash of vanilla essence
Rhubarb Jam:
- 1 bunch of rhubarb, washed and cut into 3cm long pieces
- 1 punnet – approx. 400g – strawberries, washed and halved
- 2tbs sugar
METHOD:
- For the pastry, simply put everything in a self-standing mixer with a hook attachment and put on high-speed and continue mixing until a ball is formed. If this doesn’t happen, add a tablespoon of cold water. Shape it like a loaf, and slice into 0,5cm thick slices.
- Butter the tin generously and cover the bottom with baking paper. Assemble the slices to cover the bottom and sides of the tin, try to make it as even as possible. Save some pastry for the top.
- Set the tin in the fridge for 30min. in the meantime, set the oven to 180C and make your rhubarb strawberry jam.
- Place the chopped rhubarb and strawberries in a small pot and add the sugar. Cover and let it come to a boil, until rhubarb somewhat disintegrates and the jam feels nice and thick. This should take around 10min.
- Blind bake the tart shell for 10 minutes, take out of the oven and set aside.
- For the frangipane filling whisk butter at room temperature and sugar on high speed, and once it’s nicely whipped, add the egg, salt and a splash of vanilla. Whisk for another couple of minutes on high speed, gradually add almonds and flour and whip for another 30s. Set aside.
- Remove the baking paper and beans / rice or whatever you used to blind bake your pastry. Cover the slightly cooled baked shell with frangipane, and cover that with the rhubarb jam, I was quite generous with it frangipane- my frangipane layer was 1cm high and my rhubarb layer 1.5cm. The remainder of your jam can be stored in a glass jar and should last a couple of weeks in the fridge.
- Decorate the top with the remainder of your pastry, you can make little »snakes« and make a pattern of your choice or crumble it up.
- Bake for another 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the jam is bubbling. Sprinkle with some sliced almonds and leave in a turned off hot oven for 10more minutes.
- You can serve it hot or cold, I believe another spoon of the rhubarb jam and a spoon of greek yoghurt work so well with it, but you’ll love it on its own too.
Butter And Stuff 