Tarte aux fraises

This is the fourth strawberry pie I've made so far this season. The first was a strawberry and rhubarb pie where I cooked the strawberries in with the rhubarb. The second was fresh strawberries topping a cooked almond custard. The third was another strawberry and rhubarb pie, but with fresh strawberries topping the cooked rhubarb filling.

Une barquette de fraises, about 500 grams worth.

Yesterday I got another barquette of strawberries from our favorite strawberry and asparagus vendor at the market in Saint-Aignan. Ken suggested I do a strawberry pie the classic way, with fresh strawberries on top of pastry cream. So that's what I did. A pastry cream is eggs, milk, sugar, and vanilla cooked on top of the stove very slowly until it thickens. Then, once it's cool, it goes into a pre-baked pie shell.

The tarte is glazed and ready to eat!

I washed the strawberries then halved them and arranged them on top of the pastry cream. They're finished off with a glaze of Ken's home-made quince jelly. The local strawberries this year are incredibly good! It's worth a trip to the market on Saturdays just for them alone.