Strawberry Creme Caramel Tart

Make creme caramel:

Preheat oven to 225 degrees F. Spread strawberries on a baking sheet
and bake in middle of oven 30 minutes to dry slightly. Transfer
baking sheet to a rack to cool strawberries.

Increase temperature to 350 degrees F.

In a dry heavy saucepan cook granulated sugar over moderately low
heat, stirring slowly with a fork (to help sugar melt evenly), until
melted and pale golden. Cook caramel, without stirring, swirling pan,
until deep golden. Immediately pour caramel into a 9-inch glass pie
plate, tilting plate to coat bottom and sides evenly. Put pie plate
in a baking pan.

In a saucepan heat cream just to a boil and remove pan from heat. In
a bowl whisk together egg, yolks, vanilla, and a pinch of salt until
combined well and in a stream add warm cream, whisking. Skim off any
froth and carefully pour custard into pie plate. Arrange strawberries

decoratively on their sides in custard (custard should completely
cover strawberries) and add enough hot water to pan to reach halfway
up side of plate. Bake creme caramel in middle of oven about 40
minutes, or until custard is just set but still trembles slightly
(custard will continue to set as it cools). Remove plate from pan and
cool custard completely on a rack.

Chill creme caramel, loosely covered with plastic wrap, at least 4
hours and up to 1 day.

Make crust:

In a large bowl with fingertips or a pastry blender blend together
flour, brown sugar, salt, and butter until mixture resembles coarse
meal. Add 1 tablespoon ice water and toss mixture with a fork until
incorporated. Add some or all of remaining ice water, 1/2 tablespoon
at a time, tossing with fork to incorporate until mixture just begins
to form a dough. On a work surface with heel of hand smear dough in 3
or 4 forward motions to help distribute butter. Form dough into a
ball and flatten to form a disk. Chill dough, wrapped in plastic
wrap, 1 hour.

On a lightly floured surface roll out dough into a 10-inch round
(about 1/8 inch thick) and transfer to a baking sheet. Using a 9-inch
plate as a guide, trim dough to a 9-inch round. Prick round all over
with a fork and chill 30 minutes. Bake round in middle of oven until
golden, about 30 minutes, and cool completely on baking sheet on a
rack.

Just before serving, assemble tart. Have ready a flat serving plate at
least 10 inches in diameter with a slight lip. Run a thin knife
around edge of creme caramel and rotate pie plate back and forth to
make sure creme caramel is loosened. Slide crust on top of creme
caramel and invert serving plate on top of crust. Invert tart onto
serving plate (caramel will run to edges of plate) and garnish with
strawberries.

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