Big Ol' French Tart

Rememberhow I'm learning to cook?  (again?)  Dave brought me home a huge clamshell of strawberries during my surgery recovery, and I. made. something. wonderful. With the help of Julia Child, of course.  And some advice from my Dave.

And inaugurated a wedding gift!  Seriously, I had all but forgotten we even owned this beautiful cake stand.

The crust is a french sugar crust.  Julia Child says to use 2-7 tablespoons of sugar...the more you use, the better it tastes, but also the more difficult it is to work with.

So I used 6 tablespoons.  Because I am overconfident, but not too overconfident.

Do you know how a french tart crust is made?

You use a tart pan.  It has those ruffly edges, sides about an inch tall, and the bottom is false, to facilitate sliding the shell free once it's baked.  Know what I used instead of a tart pan that would seem like a good idea but is really really hard to use?  A springform pan!

It has 2 inch sides, and the bottom has to be unbuckled for it to release.  Also, it doesn't allow the shell to slide out so much as POP out.  Also, do you know how hard it is to transfer a rolled out, crumbly, sugar crust dough into a pan with 2" deep sides??  It's hard, y'all.  It fell apart on my first attempt, and I threw an all out, I'm-a-grown-woman-not-getting-my-WAY temper tantrum.  Then I balled the dough up and did not throw it in the trash; I threw it back in the freezer.  To let us both chill for awhile.

On my second attempt, I asked for and followed my husband's advice.  I folded the rolled out dough in towards the middle, slid the bottom of the springform pan underneath and clipped it into place, then unfolded the dough onto the sides of the pan.  SO much easier.  I don't even mind that a chunk of the dough didn't quite make it through the process.  The rest of it did!

And then the strawberries I cut (Julia Child didn't cut hers) continued to macerate the longer they sat there forming a pool of strawberry juice around the base of the tart, and no one minded that either.  It was scrumptious.

Welcome to the family, cake stand!

So now that we've done the french tart thing, what shall I do with the other half of this french pastry cream recipe I've got in my freezer, hmmmm?