Classic French Strawberry Tart

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the plain flour, almond meal, icing sugar, and salt until uniformly distributed.

Add the cold, diced butter to the dry ingredients. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs with pea-sized pieces of butter remaining.

Add the lightly beaten egg to the center of the mixture. Gently mix with a fork or your hands until the dough just begins to clump together into a ball.

Flatten the dough into a disc, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Pour the milk into a medium saucepan. Add the scraped vanilla seeds and the split vanilla pod. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat, watching carefully so it does not boil over.

While the milk is heating, whisk the egg yolks and caster sugar together in a mixing bowl until pale and thick. Sift in the cornstarch and whisk until completely smooth.

Remove the vanilla pod from the hot milk. Slowly pour half of the hot milk into the egg yolk mixture while whisking constantly to temper the eggs.

Pour the tempered egg mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining hot milk. Place over medium heat and whisk vigorously and continuously until the mixture thickens and comes to a boil.

Remove the saucepan from the heat. Add the room temperature butter and whisk until fully incorporated and the pastry cream is glossy. Pass through a fine mesh strainer into a clean bowl if there are any lumps.

Press a sheet of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the hot pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours until completely cold and firm.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the chilled dough to a 3mm thickness. Carefully transfer the dough to line the 23cm fluted tart tin, pressing gently into the corners. Trim the excess overhang.

Prick the base of the tart shell all over with a fork. Chill the lined tin in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, or in the freezer for 15 minutes, to relax the gluten.

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).

Line the chilled tart shell with a crumpled piece of parchment paper and fill to the brim with baking weights or dried beans. Bake for 15 minutes.

Carefully remove the parchment paper and weights. Return the tart shell to the oven and bake for a further 10 to 12 minutes until the base is dry and the edges are golden brown.

Remove the tart shell from the oven and allow it to cool completely in the tin on a wire rack before filling.

Remove the chilled pastry cream from the refrigerator. Whisk vigorously for about 30 seconds to loosen it and restore a smooth, creamy texture.

Spoon or pipe the smooth pastry cream into the cooled tart shell, spreading it into an even layer using an offset spatula.

Arrange the halved strawberries in concentric circles over the pastry cream, starting from the outside edge and working inwards, overlapping them slightly.

In a small saucepan, gently warm the apricot jam and water over low heat until melted. Pass through a fine strainer if chunky. Use a pastry brush to gently dab the glaze over the strawberries to give them a brilliant shine.