Strawberry and pistachio frangipane tart

A crisp, buttery rye flour pastry provides a golden bed for a thick layer of nutty pistachio frangipane, which is topped with juicy, fresh and perfectly in season strawberries. Delicately sweet, this is a dessert that allows the beauty of fresh strawberries to shine, and is the perfect summer pudding.

I’ve so many memories of strawberry picking when I was wee. There was a field not far from my granny’s house where strawberries and raspberries flourished, and my granny and I would walk the short stretch from where she lived to spend sunny afternoons picking and eating the sweet fruits. Often the whole family would hop into the car on a summer morning to drive to a nearby strawberry field, where we’d get little baskets to collect our treasure, though I would always eat more than would end up in my basket. Strawberries are the sign of summer for me–when the gorgeous, ruby red, shiny berries line shelves at supermarkets and food markets, and you’re hit with their sweet aroma even when standing meters away.

This tart is, for me, the perfect summer afternoon or after dinner sweet treat. The perfectly crisp pastry, with the nutty pistachio frangipane glowing green, are the perfect accompaniments for strawberries. If strawberries aren’t quite in season where you are, or the particular strawberries that you have aren’t super sweet or flavourful, I recommend placing them on top of the tart before baking, as baking them will bring out their sweetness.

The pastry dough and frangipane can both be made up to two days in advance. The pastry recipe makes slightly more than is required for the tart. With the leftovers, you could roll it out to about 4-5cm, cut circles out with a cookie cutter and bake them at 180C fan for 15 minutes or so, then dip them in a little bit of chocolate to serve as biscuits. Alternatively, you can bring the leftover pieces back together and lightly knead it then form it into a disk, wrap it well and freeze it. Allow it to thaw in the fridge before using. Additionally, if you don’t use all of the frangipane then this can also be frozen and thawed in the fridge before use.