Graphic rhubarb pie
 
Prep time: 40mn
Cook time: 25mn
Serves 6
Ingredients
Equipment:
  • a 11x35cm* rectangle tart tin
Shortcrust pastry (or ready made short or shortcrust pastry
  • 250g flour
  • 150g very cold salted butter, cut in cubes
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
Rhubarb:
  • 750g rhubarb stalks (try to choose the same diameter) **
  • 1 vanilla pod
  • 75g sugar
  • 45cl water
  • the juice of one lemon
Almond Cream:
  • 1 egg
  • 60g ground almonds
  • 50g butter
  • 50g sugar
Instructions
Prepare rhubarb:
  1. Wash the rhubarb, cut off the ends and cut the stalks into sticks of 11cm long.
  2. Split the vanilla pod, remove the beans and set aside for the almond cream. In a saucepan, over low heat the water, sugar, filtered lemon juice and the empty vanilla pod until the sugar is fully dissolved. When the sugar is dissolved, add the sticks of rhubarb and heat gently for exactly 4 minutes (no more otherwise the rhubarb begins to fall apart).
  3. Remove pan from heat and cool for at least 1 hour. By doing this way, the rhubarb is perfectly cooked but keep its shape. Once the syrup has cooled down, retrieve carefully rhubarb sticks with a slotted spoon and let drain on a paper towel.
Prepare the pastry:
  1. Put the butter, flour and brown sugar in the bowl of a food processor and blend the mixture until it is sanded. Add the beaten egg and mix again until dough forms ball. Roll out the pastry between 2 sheets of baking paper and put in the refrigerator for 20mn to cool.
  2. Roll out a little more if needed and lay the pastry in the tin. Prick the pastry with a fork and set aside in the refrigerator while you prepare the almond cream. Preheat oven to 200 °.
Prepare the almond cream:
  1. Melt the butter and let it cool a few moments. In a bowl, whisk the egg and sugar until pale. Add the melted butter, seeds from the vanilla pod and ground almonds and mix gently.
  2. Fill with the pie shell with the almond cream and smooth with the back of a spoon. Bake for 25 minutes at 180°C, turning the tin halfway, until the almond cream is golden. The almond cream will expand and fill pie shell so there is no need to blind-bake the pie beforehand. Take out of the oven and allow to cool before filling rhubarb.
  3. Gently place the rhubarb sticks regularly on the almond cream. Serve the tart warm or cold with heavy cream or vanilla ice cream on the side.
Notes
* For a round tart, there should be enough pastry but you should need 1.5 times the amount of almond cream and rhubarb. To create a graphic pie, you can try to create a chevron design for example.
** If your rhubarb is not very red, you can cheat by adding a touch of pink or red food colouring in syrup when cooking the rhubarb.
Recipe by Anne-Sophie Vidal - Fashion Cooking at https://www.fashioncooking.fr/2016/10/graphic-rhubarb-tart/