STRAWBERRIES

“If people take the trouble to cook, you should take the trouble to eat.” Robert Morley

Spring has sprung in the Northern hemisphere and autumn is well and truly here, in the South. We’ve had a couple of really autumnal days with cold, rain and leaden skies. It was good to see the rain come down, although I dare say we need much more… Nevertheless, I had some delicious strawberries yesterday, flown all the way down from Queensland. The strawberries were red and fragrant, fully ripened. Each berry perfect and shiny, picked at its peak. When I bit into it, the flesh was firm yet yielding, the juice aromatic and so sweet. Here is a recipe for strawberry tart.

STRAWBERRY TART
Ingredients for the pastry
350 g flour
175 g butter cut in small pieces
90 g caster sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoonful Marsala
1/2 teaspoonful ground cloves/cinnamon
zest of one lemon, pinch of salt.
for the filling
1 punnet of strawberries
3 tablespoonfuls strawberry jam
3 tablespoonfuls caster sugar
1 teaspoonful ground cloves/cinnamon/ginger

Method
Sift the flour on a wooden board and make a well in the centre. Within the well add the butter, sugar, egg yolks, Marsala, lemon peel and salt. Work the dough well and quickly, shape it into a ball, cover it with wax paper and refrigerate it for 30 minutes. Then roll out l of the dough into a thin sheet and line a 23 cm buttered flan tin. Spread the bottom of the tart with the strawberry jam and then arrange the washed, hulled, drained and halved strawberries thickly on the tart base. Sprinkle the fruit with the sugar and spice mixture. Roll out the remaining 3 of the dough into a sheet and cut thin strips. Weave these strips into a lattice which is used to cover the tart. Neaten the dough edge of the tart by scalloping and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake the tart in a hot oven 210˚ C for about 30 minutes until the pastry is golden brown in colour. The tart is best eaten after 24 hours.
Enjoy your weekend!