No More Tuition Tart

(inspired by Tabora Farms strawberry conserve and Stella Notte's vanilla bean custard sauce)
This is a sum of several parts; it is really more of an excuse to consume forkfuls of fresh strawberries and chocolate with custard sauce. I tuck the berries into a chocolate tart shell which is lined with ganache and strawberry jam. You can make some of this or all of this. I am providing the two essential parts; the jam and the custard. (Recipes for a tart shell and ganache can be found in a myriad of places. When time permits, I will insert one here.)

Strawberry Conserve
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup water
2 pints (which should weigh about 2 pounds) of fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, combine the granulated sugar and water. Bring to a boil over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Add the berries and return to a boil. It takes about 5-7 minutes for the berries to soften. Remove the pan from the heat. Crush the berries with a potato masher. (If you don't have one, I suppose you could use a fork, but that would be endless. Invest in a potato masher.) Set a small strainer over a bowl, strain the mashed berries, reserving the juice. Now return the juice back to the saucepan, and cook this over medium heat until it reduces to about 2/3 of a cup. The juice will become quite thick; this takes about 15 minutes. Keep an eye on things here- you don't want it to burn. Remove the thickened syrup from the heat, add the vanilla and the reserved mashed berries. Set aside to cool. Cover with plastic wrap and chill completely before assembling the tart. 

Vanilla Bean Custard Sauce with Champagne
1 and 1/2 cups heavy cream
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup granulated sugar 
4 Tablespoons of champagne 
one half of a vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped out with a knife

Heat the heavy cream, champagne and vanilla seeds in a small saucepan until simmering but not boiling. Place the egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat until very thick. With the mixer on low, gradually pour the hot cream mixture over the egg/sugar mixture in a thin stream, whisking constantly. Return the custard mixture to the top of a double boiler and cook over simmering water, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula until the mixture reaches 180 degrees. Remove from the double boiler and cool completely in the refrigerator. If you can't see yourself opening a bottle of champagne for a mere 4 Tablespoons, you can substitute 2 Tablespoons of Grand Marnier which you add at the end of the recipe, once the custard has cooled.  (Of course, the idea here is to find a reason to enjoy the remaining champagne.) 

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