Fruit tartar (torta di frutta)

This is absolutely one of the best cake I ever made. It takes some time, but you will be excited about the result!

Persons: 10

Preparation time: 60 minutes

What do we need?

Sweet Pastry Crust:
250 grams all purpose flour
125 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature
115 grams granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 lemon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 egg yolks

Pastry Cream:
500 ml milk (whole is better)
1 lemon
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 egg yolks
125 grams granulated white sugar
60 grams all-purpose flour

Instructions:
Sweet Pastry Crust:  

1. Place the butter in the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, and beat until softened. 
2. Add sugar, vanilla, some lemon peel and salt
3. Gradually add the beaten egg, beating just until incorporated.
4. Place the flour in a big bowl.
5. Prepare a hole in the center of the flour.
6. Add the egg mixture to the hole.
7. Mix everything with your hands (don't worry it will take some times and at the beginning you might think it is not working, it will!) just until it forms a ball.
8. Flatten the pastry into a disk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate 30 minutes.
9. Preheat the oven at 350F.

... in the meantime
Pastry Cream: 

1. In a bowl mix the sugar and egg yolks together
2. Add the flour to the egg mixture
3. Mixing until you get a smooth paste.
4. In a saucepan bring the milk, 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice and vanilla just to boiling
5. Remove from heat and add slowly to egg mixture, whisking constantly to prevent curdling. 
6. Then cook the mix over medium heat until boiling, whisking constantly. 
7. When it boils, whisk mixture constantly for another 30 - 60 seconds until it becomes thick. 

Sweet Pastry Crust (part 2 - let's cook!):  

1. Lightly butter and flour a tart pan with a removable bottom. 
2. Evenly pat the chilled pastry onto the bottom and up the sides of the pan. 
3. Lightly prick bottom of pastry crust with the tines of a fork
4. Place tart pan on a larger baking pan and bake crust for 15 minutes (check if it is getting too brown, it is ready!) 
5. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely before filling. 

The time to fill:  

1. Cut in small piece any time of fruit you like (it is great with grapes, banana, strawberries, kiwi, blueberries etc.) and cover with some lemon juice to prevent it get brown.
2. Remove the tart from the fluted sides of the pan. 
3. Spread the pastry cream onto the bottom of the tart shell.
4. Place fruit in concentric overlapping circles starting at the outside edge. 
5. If not serving immediately, refrigerate but bring to room temperature before serving. 

Results:

Suggestions: if some pastry cream is left you can leave in the fridge for a couple of days. It is also excellent on the top of a biscotto with coffee!
If some of your pastry crust is left you can prepare some small fruit tartar or just some biscotti. Cook them in the oven at the same temperature but only for 5/10 minutes (check if they are too brown).