Rhubarb Tarts

 

The seasons are changing and the weather is becoming warmer, which means all the beautiful fruits and veg in are little garden allotment are beginning to grow and starting to be able to eat. First for us is the rhubarb, honestly probably my favourite. Ever since I was a young girl I've always adored rhubarb and now that I am older I found a love of cooking with it.

This year tarts.

Beautiful and small these are lovely cold or eaten straight out of the oven. Delicious simple shortcrust with a rhubarb filling, they're great served with a dollop of custard or thick cream.

INGREDIENTS 

• 400g of Rhubarb
• 1/4 cup of caster sugar 
• 1 egg or milk for a wash (optional)
• Pre made pastry or search for and follow my pastry recipe on this blog. 

 HOW TO
 
The most important thing to remember when cooking with rhubarb is that it needs to be really well cooked because there is nothing worse than fibrous stringy rhubarb.

Chop the rhubarb up into 1cm thick chunks and place in a saucepan with 4-6 table spoons of water and the sugar (you can add more or less its up to taste. Once the rhubarb is cooked taste it and you can add more sugar if you want.), cook on a high heat stirring occasionally until boiling then lower the temperature and simmer until the rhubarb softens and breaks down. It should end up mushy.

Pre heat the oven to Gas mark 5/ 375°F / 190°C

Roll out the pastry and using a cookie cutter (any shape or size will do) cut an even amount of shapes. Lay out one half and heap the rhubarb in the centre leaving a clear gap of about 1cm between the filling and edge. Using room temperature water dab and wet the border, place the other half on top and press the edges together, sealing the tart.

Using a fork poke air holes in the top to stop the pastry from expanding.

Decoration is optional :)

Last thing you need to do before putting these babies in the oven is to do a wash, you can use just milk or do an egg wash.

EGG WASH : whisk up an egg with a splash of cold water or milk until pale yellow and perfectly mixed. The ratio is usually no more than 1 tbsp liquid per egg.

Then to the oven they go. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden and hard.