Pistachio & Cardamom Pastry Cream & Strawberry Tart Recipe
I guess you can say we got a bit carried away with making the Pistachio & Cardamom Pastry Cream & Strawberry Tarts.
The Inspiration
Pistachios. It all started with a lovely Marullo 1oo% Sicilian Pistachio Paste I received from Italy.
From then on spiraled an intense cooking and baking session with @mightyvanilla which involved everything pistachios and nuts in general. Dinner started off with Pistachio, Avocado, Sour Cherry & Black Sesame Dip with Prawns followed by a few pistachio desserts. There was an Almond Breakfast Cake with Pear Filling & Pistachio Gelato and then this Pistachio & Cardamom Pastry Cream & Strawberry Tart. Personally I enjoyed the Almond Breakfast Cake with Pear Filling the most and the Pistachio Gelato was just good with everything.
This Pistachio & Cardamom Pastry Cream & Strawberry Tart was a classic French recipe with a modern twist. The cardamom gave a Middle Eastern flare to the pistachio pastry cream and the strawberries played into it incredibly well. It was aromatic and quite dynamic in flavours and the pastry cream is good alone. It was light and creamy, yet rich with flavour.
The sweet tart shell is a no fail recipe, but I find it not as flavourful and a bit like shortbread. I prefer a pate de sucre crust or a nutty ground almond crust so feel free to switch it up. This was also good with the Pistachio Gelato, which I’ll include the recipe for below.
Pistachio & Cardamom Pastry Cream & Strawberry Tart Recipe
Sweet Tart Dough
Adapted from Tartine by Elisabeth M. Prueitt & Chad Robertson
Makes enough for 2 large tart pans or 12 4″ tartlets
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature (130g)
- 1/2 cup sugar (100g)
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour (250g)
- seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Directions
1. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, sugar, and salt and mix on medium speed until smooth. Mix in the egg and vanilla until smooth. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the flour all at once and mix on low speed just until incorporated.
2. Divide the dough evenly into 2 portions and shape each into round discs. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.
3. Remove the dough 10-15 minutes from the refrigerator before rolling to take the chill off. Roll out to 1/8 of an inch thick and line tart pans of your choice with the dough. Prick the surface of the tart all over with a fork and freeze the lined tart shells for at least 30 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 325F.
5. For a partially baked shell (where you will be filling the tart and baking it further), bake for 7-10 minutes for a large tart and 5-7 minutes for tartlets. The pastry should be lightly coloured and look dry and opaque. Rotate the pans halfway through for even baking.
6. For a fully bake shell, proceed as directed for a partially baked shell but bake until golden brown, 5-7 minutes longer. Let cool completely before filling.
Pistachio Pastry Cream
Adapted from Tartine by Elisabeth M. Prueitt & Chad Robertson
Makes 2 1/2 cups – 3 cups, enough to fill 1 large tart
Ingredients
- 2 cups milk (500mL)
- seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp sugar (115g)
- 2 large eggs
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter (55g)
- 2-3 tablespoons unsweetened Marullo 100% Sicilian pistachio paste
Ingredients
1. Pour the milk into a heavy saucepan. Add the vanilla and salt. Place the saucepan over medium high heat and bring to just under a boil, stirring occasionally and making sure the milk is not sticking to the bottom of the pan.
2. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, whisk together together the cornstarch and sugar. Add the eggs and whisk until smooth.
3. When the milk is heated, slowly ladle about 1/3 of the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Pour the egg-milk mixture into the saucepan and continue whisking over medium heat until the custard has thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the pistachio paste. Let the pastry cream cool for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent a skin from forming on top. Cut the butter into 1 tbsp pieces and whisk the butter into the cream until fully incorporated.
4. To cool the pastry cream, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and press the wrap directly onto the top of the cream. Allow it to cool for at least 30 minutes before filling the tart shells.
I used local BC strawberries and sour cherries, but mangoes, plums and fresh cherries would work too.
Pistachio Gelato Recipe
The pistachio gelato is optional, but amazing. The tart can be easily enjoyed alone.
Pistachio Gelato
Adapted from Frozen Desserts by Francisco J Migoya
Ingredients
- 3 cups whole milk (750 mL) (I only had skim & cream so I used 2 3/4 cups skim milk + 1/4 cup cream)
- 1/2 cup sugar (155g)
- 4 large egg yolks (70g)
- 1/3 cup unsweetened Marullo 100% Sicilian pistachio paste (80g)
Directions
1. Place the milk in a large saucepan and heat it to the scalding point. While the milk is heating, whisk the sugar and egg yolks together in a mixing bowl until the mixture is lightened in colour and a “ribbon” forms when the whisk is lifted.
2. Slowly add half of the hot milk to the egg mixture while whisking. Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan and place it over medium low heat. Whisk the mixture constantly until it has thickened slightly (or reached 170F). Remove the saucepan from the heat and whisk in the pistachio paste.
3. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve and let it cool in the fridge overnight. Churn in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.
4. If you wish add toasted pistachio pieces in at the very end for added crunch and flavour. We did that!
This picture is LOVELY. Have never heard of sicilian pistachio paste until now.
Pleased to have found your blog via Edmonton Foodie. Keep the posts coming!
@LadyBaba – Hi there! Terrific! wow! Thanks for visiting! I update daily so I hope you’ll be back! Yes, this pistachio paste was quite amazing. Quality was unreal and a lick of the spoon left pistachio flavour in my mouth long after it was gone! 🙂
this is so beautiful and it looks delish! i’m going to make this for my brother and sister in law when they come home in two weeks!
@Linda – ahhh exciting!! let me know how it goes!!! If you can try the breakfast cake!! That one is AMAZING and I liked it better!
Hi I was wondering whether you can get this pistachio paste in Vancouver or did you have it shipped to you? If so was it difficult?
BTW…the tart looks amazing that is why I am inquiring.