Rose, Honey, Salted Tart

I had some friends round for dinner the other night, and decided to try a new recipe out.  Including making my own pastry (something I’ve previously ignored).   This of course seemed like a less good idea, when I was half way through on one of the hottest days of the year so far with no alternative dessert to offer them if this one went tits up.  

Fortunately it all turned out ok in the end, and I think it’s something I’ll make again.  I even got to serve it with some of our home-grown strawberries and a quenelle of vanilla cream.

I suspect I've also finally come around to thinking that homemade pastry is much better.

Ingredients:

 Rose Pastry

2 and 1/4 cups flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 cup butter, cold and hard

1 tablespoon rose water

4-7 tablespoons ice water

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Salted Rose & Honey Filling 

3/4 cup sugar

3 tablespoons corn flour

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 teaspoons rose water

2 teaspoons white vinegar

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 eggs

1/2 cup cream

Salt For Sprinkling – 2-3 teaspoons of good quality sea salt, depending how salty you like it to be

First make the pastry. Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the cold butter, cut into as small pieces as you can manage.  I used  the food processor to make mine.   Blitz together the dry ingredients and the butter, them add in the rosewater before slowly adding  a couple of tablespoons of iced water (one at a time), until the pastry comes together.

Line the tart cases, leaving some hanging over the top, this can be trimmed later. Pop in the fridge for ten minutes.  Then line with foil and baking beans and blind bake for ten minutes at 170C. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before starting on the filling.

Preheat the oven to 170C. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the eggs and cream until smooth. Set aside. Combine the butter, sugar, salt, and cornflour until well blended. Add the rose water, honey, vanilla, and vinegar and mix until combined, then fold in the egg mixture until incorporated.

Pour the mixture into the cases and bake for 35-45 minutes until the top of the tart turns golden brown and the custard sets.  Leave the tarts at room temp for two hours before serving, trim any excess pastry before plating up.