Roasted Strawberry Tart

Lee and I went to the Farmer's Market yesterday and bought a bunch of fresh strawberries. Knowing we wouldn't be able to finish them before they go bad, I thought I'd make a strawberry tart. However, I didn't want all the fat and calories of the deeeeeelicious cream that goes under the fruit in a fresh fruit tart. So my brain went to the easy fruit tarts I like to make. However, I'd never made one with strawberries! I'd only used peaches, apricots and apples. I searched the Internet and found that there were cooks out there who'd tried it already so I decided to give it a try too.

I ended up using the crust recipe from one person and the general idea for the filling from another, but I made a change. She had used the juice of a lemon (which I'm sure would be very fresh and tasty). However, I had just about 2 teaspoons of my very good balsamic vinegar left and because it wasn't really enough to use for anything else, I thought I would substitute it for the lemon and the result was fantastic. 

The crust recipe made enough dough for me to make 2 smaller sized tarts - one for me and one for Lee. You can make this into one large tart if you'd like.

Here's the recipe for the crust (torn from the pages of Food and Wine, August 1999):

1 C flour
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 TBL cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
3 TBL sour cream (I used plain Greek yogurt because that's all I had)

1. In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
Pulse until mixed. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles course meal. Chill the work bowl for 15 minutes.



This barely holds together, but that's ok!


2. Replace the work bowl, add the sour cream and process until the mixture resembles coarse sand (Mine gathered up into a nice little ball and it turned out just fine).  Gather the dough into a ball and pat it into a disk. Wrap it in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before rolling out.

For the Tart:

2 C sliced fresh strawberries
1/4 C sugar
2 tsp very good aged balsamic (you can substitute fresh lemon juice too)
1/2 tsp cornstarch
pinch of salt
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1-2 pats of unsalted butter for dotting
sugar for dusting the tart

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 375.

2. In a medium bowl, combine strawberries, sugar, balsamic vinegar, corn starch and salt. Gently stir to combine.

3. Unwrap the dough and put between to sheets of plastic wrap. Roll to an 8 inch circle (if making one large tart, roll to about 12 inches). Place rolled dough onto a sheet pan lined with parchment or a silpat mat (GREAT for baking - nothing sticks to it - you can find these at Williams Sonoma).  click here to see the silpat mat!  Pile the strawberries in the middle of the dough (try not to get too much juice) - you can lay these in a lovely pinwheel pattern if you like, but I don't have the patience for it and I like rustic looking things anyway. Use 1 cup of berries per tart if you are making 2 tarts. Don't put the berries to the edge, leave a border.

4. Fold up the edges of the dough over the berries, just at the edge, overlapping and crimping a bit to seal. Lightly brush the edges of the tart with the egg. Dot the berries with a few bits of butter and sprinkle the whole thing, lightly, with some sugar.

5. Bake for about 40 minutes or until golden brown.

6. Eat while warm. Enjoy!