First, you bake the crust. This is a mixture of oats, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, oil, milk, and vanilla. You're supposed to grind the oats finely in a food processor, but "food processor" to me means "make a mortar and pestle out of a measuring cup and the blunt end of my lemon juicer."
Also, I didn't have a 9-inch tart pan, so I used a 9-inch cake pan and it seemed to work just fine.
The next step, which can be done while you're baking the tart or even beforehand (which is preferable, if you're pressed for time), is to make the filling.
The first part is simple and pretty difficult to screw up: chop rhubarb and strawberries, zest lemon, and toss everything in a bowl with some sugar. Allow to sit for 30 minutes for sugar to dissolve.
At this point, the mixture was starting to smell nice, especially with the lemony crust baking in the oven. I didn't give it quite 30 minutes because I needed to go to bed, but the sugar was pretty much dissolved. At this point, you cook it on the stovetop for a bit, just to start breaking down the fruit a bit, and then you're supposed to stir in some corn starch and it'll be like a great compote or something.
Two bad things happened to me at this point.
Number one, I either went too long (no) or cooked too hot (probably), so most of my rhubarb and some of my strawberries pretty much disintegrated into what looked like a very nice jam. I'm pretty sure my fruit was supposed to be more solid than that.
Number two, it says to mix 5 tsp. of corn starch with 1 tbsp. of water "until smooth." Let me tell you what 5 tsp. of corn starch looks like when you mix it with 1 tbsp. water: crack cocaine. From what I hear, there is nothing "smooth" about crack cocaine. I'm sitting there, trying desperately to mash up this pile of white crap, and it's getting drier and crappier with each passing second. I may have said aloud, "screw it," and dumped it into the jamlike substance squirming around in my pan.
After cooking for another 2 minutes on the stovetop, you pour the filling into a dish and let it cool down for a couple of hours. The shell is a little soft, so I can see why you wouldn't want to pour it in right away, or to leave it very long.
In the morning, I poured the filling on top of the crust, then arranged strawberries decoratively on top. Here's what it looked like partway through, so you can see how utterly dissolved my rhubarb truly became:
And here's the finished product:
Not too shabby! I brought it to work to share with a coworker for her birthday, and I also shared a piece with Diane, who was here for court. It's a very nice slice of summer - maybe a little early - but seemed to be enjoyed by all.
Maybe I'll have a second piece.
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