Fresh Berry Tart with Vanilla Pastry Cream

Grease a 9-inch tart pan.

To prepare crust, place flour, salt and sugar in a food processor and pulse to mix. Add butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal. While the machine is running, pour in ice water slowly. The dough should hold together when pinched. Add a little more water if necessary.

Gather dough and form a disc. Wrap it with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes to chill.

Remove the dough from the fridge. Roll it on a floured surface, until around 3mm thick. Line the prepared pan with the rolled dough. Leave a tiny overhang of dough. Use a small kitchen knife to trim the excess overhang and to score the tops of the tart crust. Freeze it for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line the top of the chilled crust with tin foil and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove tin foil. Bake for another 10 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

To prepare pastry cream, cook milk, vanilla and salt in a saucepan over medium heat to bring the mixture just to a boil. Stir occasionally.

While the milk is cooking, in a bowl whisk together cornstarch, sugar and eggs until smooth.

Slowly add 1/3 of the hot milk mixture to the egg mixture, whisking continuously. Pour the milk-egg mixture back into the saucepan. Cook over low heat and whisk continuously until the custard is thickened, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat.

Pour the custard through a sieve and into a bowl to make it super smooth.

Let it cool for 15 minutes. Add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time. Whisk until smooth. Put a piece of plastic wrap right on top of the cream to prevent a skin from forming. Let cool completely.

To assemble the tart, spoon pasty cream into the tart shell. Top with fresh berries. Serve immediately.