The other day I put forward the question over on my Facebook wall 'What to do with all those frozen berries that are safely ensconced in my freezer drawer'? To my utter delight you came back with a whole list of interesting and diverse suggestions including smoothies, berry granita, coulis, cobbler, jam, jelly, sorbet, muffins and pie.

Despite a very strong urge to transform those luscious berries into a mound of sorbet, I decided to make a mixed berry crostata instead.
 
Besides, despite using up nearly a kilo of berries for this particular tart, I still have an easy two kilos of raspberries and blueberries left in my freezer. So if you thought that my ice cream escapades were finally coming to an end, think again!


Mixed Berry Crostata

You can make your own sweet shortcrust pastry for this crostata, but if you feeling particularly lazy store bought pastry will do just fine, just make sure it's a good quality brand like Carème or something similar.

Ingredients

Shortcrust pastry



115g of unsalted butter


1/3 cup of golden castor sugar


1 organic egg yolk


½ tsp vanilla extract


185g plain flour, sifted




For the filling

400g of fresh or frozen raspberries

400g of fresh or frozen blueberries

1 cup of golden castor sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp of custard powder

Zest and juice of one lemon




Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Place flour, sugar and butter in the Magimix or food processor and process for 10-15 seconds or until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add egg yolk and vanilla extract and continue to process until the pastry clings together and forms a ball. Remove pastry from the machine and knead it gently to form a smooth ball. Wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

2. Place all the filling ingredients in a separate bowl and gently combine.

3. Lightly flour work surface and rolling pin and roll the pastry out to a rough circle approximately 5mm thick and 35cm wide. Place on a tray lined with baking paper or alternatively you could place it in a round pie dish.

4. Pile the filling into the centre of the of the pastry and spread it out evenly, leaving a 5cm edge. Turn the edges over the filling and brush them with an egg wash. Bake the crostata for 50 minutes or until the pastry is golden. Serve hot, straight from the oven with some clotted cream or good quality vanilla ice cream.