In Progress: Custard, Mango and Strawberry Tarts

Yesterday, Kiddo and I went to Farmer Fred's for pic-yer-own strawberries. I got a basket's worth, some a bit overripe (on purpose). There's a charity sale at work next week, and I intend to go all out on some pies.

Yesterday, I hulled and separated -- about 2 cups were very ripe or overripe, and I set those into a dish in the fridge. The rest I put in a freezer bag and froze.

Today, I used Jaime Oliver's recipe for Short Crust Sweet Pastry to make enough pastry for 4 tarts. This is a rich, eggy pastry, it should go well with the custard. I got to the point where the pastry is in the fridge resting. I'll bake the crusts blind tomorrow or the next day, then freeze them. This is definitely a multi-day project! The plan is to make a vanilla-bean custard, spread it in the baked pie shells, top with the sauce and then layer slices of mangoes and strawberries on top. Then freeze the whole thing.

Then I combined the two cups of strawberries with two tablespoons of sugar and simmered and squished them into a sauce...I suppose I might run it through a blender and strain into a coulis, but I haven't decided yet.

Oh, by the way, the custard and the pie crust both call for lots and lots of egg yolks. I'm keeping the whites and will make meringue cookies with hazelnuts and dark chocolate, they are stunning.