Pastry is something I used to fear. Just like chicken stock, it initially appears to be an impossible, unapproachable task for the inexperienced cook. Once you know better (and it only takes one try) it’s easy to see how this technique was a common kitchen practice only one or two generations ago.

Pastry, like chicken stock, is cheap and easy to make and can turn the simplest ingredients into an impressive and satisfying dish. I am no baker- the science of it confounds me and any success feels like luck or a fluke- but pastry I seem to be able to do and so can you. All you need is very cold butter, flour and one egg. I will pass on this recipe I have used many times for sweet and savoury dishes, prebaked and not, always with fine results. I think the key to this recipe is returning the pastry to the fridge once it has been snugly fit into the pan.

If you are feeling adventurous, try replacing a small portion (1/4 – 1/3 cup) of the flour with other types of whole grain varieties (may I recommend red fife) for added taste and fiber. In this, most recent version for a rhubarb raspberry tart, I subbed in 3 tablespoons of ground almonds and added a big pinch of sugar and a sprinkling of fresh ground black pepper. Savoury versions – like for a quiche – are good with a pinch of dried herbs such as thyme or rosemary.

With my pastry in the pan and in the fridge*, I got to work roughly chopping the 3 cups of rhubarb that had been in my crisper almost too long and let it sit in a bowl sprinkled with as much sugar as would stick to it, a couple drops of vanilla and 2 tablespoons of corn starch as recommended in the Joy of Cooking (my kitchen standard and really the only cook book anyone at any level would need). 15 minutes later, pastry out, rhubarb in and I topped it all with 1/2 cup frozen raspberries and a sparse lattice from the leftover bits of dough – it was more of a tic tac toe shape- sprinkled with sugar. I put it in the oven at 350 until it looked like anymore time in there would burn it – about 35 minutes – and it turned out, yet again, which feels pretty good.

* Full disclosure: by the time I got around to chopping the rhubarb, the pastry had been in the fridge covered with a sheet of wax paper for two days. Gasp! It still worked!