Strawberry tart with custard

1. Prepare the pasta frolla: quickly work the cold butter cut into cubes with the flour and salt until you obtain a sandy mixture. Add the powdered sugar, lemon zest, the whole egg and the egg yolk, then knead only as long as necessary to compact. Form a disk, wrap in plastic film and let rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
2. Prepare the crema pasticcera: heat the milk with the vanilla pod split lengthwise and lemon zest until almost boiling. Meanwhile beat the egg yolks with the sugar until you obtain a pale mixture, then incorporate the sifted cornstarch.
3. Pour the hot milk in a thin stream onto the yolks, stirring continuously. Return everything to the heat and cook over medium flame, always stirring, for 3-4 minutes until the cream thickens. Remove from heat, remove the vanilla and zest, cover with plastic film in direct contact and let cool completely.
4. Roll out the pasta frolla on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of about 4 mm. Line a 24 cm diameter tart pan, prick the bottom with a fork and let rest in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
5. Blind bake: cover the pasta frolla with baking paper and fill with dried beans or baking weights. Bake at 180 °C in static mode for 15 minutes, then remove the weights and cook for another 10-12 minutes until evenly golden. Remove from oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.
6. Distribute the cold crema pasticcera over the cooled pasta frolla shell, leveling it with an offset spatula into an even layer of about 1.5 cm.
7. Wash and dry the strawberries, remove the stem and cut them in half or into slices. Arrange them on the cream starting from the outer edge toward the center, in concentric rows or in a radial pattern according to preference.
8. Brush the strawberries with the heated neutral gelatin to make them glossy and protect them from oxidation. Serve within 2-3 hours from assembly.

Strawberry tart with pastry cream is one of those desserts that mark the return of spring to Italian tables. The base is a crumbly and buttery pasta frolla, baked blind until it reaches uniform golden browning, then filled with a generous layer of dense pastry cream fragrant with vanilla. Fresh strawberries, arranged to cover the entire surface, complete the dessert with their vibrant acidity and bright color.

There is no region of predilection for this preparation: the fruit tart is part of Italian domestic pastry-making heritage, present from the display windows of neighborhood pastry shops to family Sunday tables. It is typically served as a dessert at the end of a meal during the seasons when strawberries reach optimal ripeness, between April and June, or as an afternoon sweet. The flavor profile balances the buttery sweetness of the pasta frolla with the velvety creaminess of the pastry cream and the slightly tart freshness of the fruit, creating a harmonious whole that lends itself well both to the glossy gelatin coating of pastry tradition and to a more rustic and homemade presentation.

Strawberry crostata lends itself to numerous interpretations that modify its base, filling or finish.

• Frolla with olive oil: replaces butter with delicate extra virgin olive oil, producing a drier base suitable for a less rich interpretation.
• Crema chantilly instead of crema pasticcera: whipped cream mixed with crema pasticcera (crema diplomatica) lightens the filling and makes it airier, preferred in many pastry shops in northern Italy.
• Crostata with lemon cream: the crema pasticcera is flavored with lemon juice and zest in generous amounts, accentuating the contrast with the sweetness of the strawberries.
• Gluten-free version: flour 00 is replaced with a mix of gluten-free flours (rice, almonds, tapioca) to meet celiac needs without sacrificing the structure of the frolla.
• Strawberries and pistachio: a layer of pistachio cream is placed between the frolla and the traditional crema pasticcera, adding a toasted note and intense green coloring.

• Moscato d'Asti DOCG (Piedmont): its delicate effervescence and floral and fruity notes pair with the freshness of strawberries without overpowering the sweetness of the cream.
• Brachetto d'Acqui DOCG: the soft tannin and hints of rose and small red fruits find a natural correspondence with the strawberry profile.
• Prosecco Valdobbiadene DOCG Dry or Extra Dry: the acidity present and the fine bubbles cleanse the palate after each bite of the buttery cream.
• Strawberry and lemon juice unsweetened: for an alcohol-free pairing that recalls the ingredients of the dessert itself without adding further sweetness.
• Sencha green tea in cold infusion: its light astringency and herbal notes cleanse the palate and enhance the freshness of the fruit.

• Store the assembled tart in the refrigerator, covered with a dome or plastic wrap not in direct contact, for a maximum of 24 hours.
• The shortcrust pastry shell baked blind, unfilled, is stored at room temperature in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
• The pastry cream is stored in the refrigerator covered in direct contact with plastic wrap for a maximum of 48 hours.
• Do not freeze the tart once assembled: the fresh fruit and cream cannot withstand the freeze-thaw cycle.
• Always serve at refrigerator temperature (4-6 °C) to preserve the cream's consistency.

In post-war Italian pastry shops, fruit tart occupied a precise place in the display window: it was the dessert of the seasons, the one that changed with the calendar and with what the produce markets offered week by week. Pasta frolla as a base to be baked blind and crema pasticcera as filling both belong to the French tradition that during the nineteenth century had widely influenced Italian bourgeois pastry-making, particularly in the northern regions and in major cities such as Milan, Turin and Florence.

Strawberry tart established itself as a spring dessert recognizable in the Italian repertoire between the late nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth century, when the production of cultivated strawberries progressively spread throughout the countryside of the Po Valley, Lazio and Campania. Its success is tied precisely to this rigorous seasonality: the strawberry harvested between April and June, consumed fresh and soon after picking, delivers an aromatic profile that no out-of-season substitute can replicate. This fidelity to the calendar has remained its distinctive trait even when large-scale distribution made fruit available all year round.