Chilled Strawberry Tart

Last summer I decided that we needed strawberries at the house. I spend $10 and ordered 25 plants online. The first summer they were not supposed to fruit.

That summer we had enough strawberries that I was making shortcakes, pies, jam, and giving them away. It started to frost before it got too ridiculous. This summer I just stopped picking sometime in July. I had ripped volunteer strawberry plants out of my flower and gave them to friends until I was asked to stop. It is fall, and they are still fruiting. Strawberries in October is a bit ridiculous. Since I have just been leaving most of them in the flower bed I'm sure the slugs are very happy. I feel bad for being wasteful somedays, but there comes a day when you just can't eat (or pick) any more strawberries. I have gallons put away frozen to make smoothies or jam with, and I've eaten quite a few already this summer.

In July, at the end of the time I was bothering to pick the strawberries, I decided to make a pie that I had made once before. It is out of my first cook book. The one my mother gave me when I was 10. It is a tradition in the family to get a cookbook on your 10th birthday, and I still have mine, and still use it. The Strawberry Glace Pie in the 40th anniversary edition of the Betty Crocker cookbook is delicious, but something that I only reluctantly tried last summer.

You see, I had the impression that fruit pies should be cooked. I had a bad experience or two with a strawberry pies that just involved the pre-made shell, strawberry syrup, and tasteless monster berries. They were nasty, too sugary, and made me untrusting of uncooked fruit pies. However, when I was overwhelmed with strawberries last year I reluctantly tried this recipe. I had looked at it with suspicion two or three times before I decided to make it. But it turned out surprisingly good, and I committed to trying it again. With some modifications of course.

First, instead of using a standard crust, I use what I call a short bread crust. Basically you make a recipe of scotch short bread and press it into your pie plate. I tried this when trying to recreate the taste of some of the simple fruit tarts that you can get in France and I love it. I use it for fruit tarts that are not too sugary. Sometimes I make tarts with just a shortbread crust and some pears or plums tossed with cinnamon sugar and baked. It is delicious, very simple, and sets of the flavor the fruit beautifully.

For the short bread crust:

3/4 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups all purpose flour (I substitute all or half wheat without a problem, it gives a nuttier flavor)

Depending on the size of your pie plate you may not need all of this, however, it is shortbread after all, so if you have extra you can freeze it for the next time, or roll it into cookies.

Chop your butter into cubes and place in a bowl. Cut in the sugar with a pastry blender. If you do not have a pastry blender use a couple of knives. The sugar and butter should be well mixed and the butter pieces should be about the size of peas. Add two cups flour and mix together. Try not to over mix as flour toughens when mixed to much. If needed, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of softened or melted butter to get the dough to come together. When it is together start pressing into the pie or tart plate. I always do the sides first. I take a little chunk of dough press it along the side so it covers completely and sticks out the top a bit. When I'm done with the sides I press what I need into the bottom. If you have extra dough, freeze or roll it out, cut into desirable shapes and place on a cookie sheet. Bake both your tart shell and any shortbread pieces at 350 for 20 minutes.

Once your crust is prepared place it in the refrigerator.

Take 1 1/2 quarts (6 cups) strawberries (note last time I only used 4 and this worked fine-- but I was using a small pie plate) wash them, take of the stems, and slice them in half. When all of your strawberries are halved take some and mash them. You need 1 cup of mashed strawberries.

In a medium sized sauce pan mix 1 cup (or less) sugar and 3 Tablespoons cornstarch. I always think this recipe is too sweet so I like too cut back on sugar.

Add 1/2 cup water and mix. Once combined Add mashed strawberries. Cook over medium heat until mixture boils. Boil and stir 1 minute. Set aside to cool.

Soften in the microwave 3 oz of cream cheese or plain goat cheese (I have used both, I liked goat better but the recipe calls for cream cheese). And once softened whip it up in a bowl until spreadable. Spread this on the bottom of the crust in your pie plate.

Distribute the remaining strawberries over the goat cheese. Pour your strawberry sauce over the top of your strawberry and goat/cream cheese tart and wiggle the pie plate around to make sure the sauce is evenly distributed. Place in the refrigerator and chill until set up. This will take at least 3 hours and is better left longer.

I was surprised the first time I made this how well the flavors went together. This last time I made it I was not as impressed, though others who ate it had no complaints. But I had recently found a delicious recipe for an uncooked blueberry pie that I had made a couple times. The strawberry pie does not come close to the blueberry one. Next time I make this I am going to follow the recipe for the blueberry pie, but use strawberries (and goat cheese as I like that touch). I'll let you know how it goes.

A Meal All Grilled

Grilling is something we absolutely love to do. We have a huge charcoal grill with Cast Iron grill surfaces that we got a few years back on an extra special 'Get this out of our store now!' sale at the end of the summer. Dennis and I always have a head to head about the terms 'Grilling' and 'Barbecuing' to him barbecue is a slow cooking process utilizing sauce. To me, who grew up on the west coast, a Grill is a Barbecue and the two terms are interchangeable.

One problem with grilling is that it always seems like such a waste of energy when you heat up all of your charcoal, merely to grill some steaks, or burgers or kebabs. Usually there is plenty of heat left over to grill your sides and even your desert as well. In the summer this will keeps the kitchen cool since you're not cooking anything inside.

For this meal we had:
1 12 oz. Rib Eye, split in two --Bargain shopper that I am I found a very nice natural beef Rib Eye on special

We coated the steak with olive oil and sprinkled it with salt and pepper. Keeping it simple is in my opinion the key to a good grilled steak.

We sliced a fennel bulb, zucchini, and yellow squash and tossed with about one tablespoon of olive oil and one tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, and sprinkled with salt. We have one of those vegetable grill pans that has holes in the middle, and it works fantastically for grilled veggies.

Once the charcoal was ready and the grill was hot (ours has a thermometer on it and we usually let it get to about 400 degrees before grilling) we put the vegetables out. In this case, they are going to take longer than the steaks. Leave the veggies to sit for about 20 minutes and then put the steak on directly over the coals. Use direct, not indirect heat. You will want to get a nice sear. In order to do so, do not move the steak other than flipping it over; which should only be done once. Close the grill and after 4 to 5 minutes (depending on the thickness of your steak, the heat of the grill, and how rare you want your meat) flip the steak and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes on the other side.

To check for doneness you can use a meat thermometer (Med. Rare is 130 degrees in the middle) or you can poke the steak with your finger or tongs. The more done it is the less give it will have. To get a feel for it just remember what the steak felt like when raw. Well done will be quite stiff, Med. Rare will still be soft, but not squishy. If you under cook your steak you can always put it back on, but you cannot undo an over done steak.

Once the steak is done, place it on a plate, loosely cover with aluminum foil, and let it sit for at least five minutes before eating. The reason for letting the meat sit rather than eating immediately is to let the edges of the meat to solidify and hold the juices in. Depending upon the thickness of your steaks, this could take longer or shorter. However, the same logic can be applied towards any non-ground grilled meat. A trick to improve this resting period is to place a smaller plate upside down on a larger plate and put the steaks on top of that. This allows the juices that drip out run away from the steaks. This helps the crust form quicker as well as preventing the steaks from sitting in their own juices, which saps more juice out of the steaks. As with the resting process, this can be applied towards other grilled meats as well.

The veggies should be getting close to done by the time the steak is ready. So you are almost ready to eat. I miss-lead a bit in the title, because I did sauté some mushrooms and add a bit of wine and cream to them and we poured them over the steak. Just chop up your mushrooms (usually 8 oz.), heat some butter or olive oil in a pan until hot, sauté the mushrooms and sprinkle with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. When they are soft and have lost some of their mushroom juices add 1/2 cup wine and bring to a boil. Then slowly add in 1/4 cup cream and simmer until the sauce thickens. This is delicious over steaks.

The simple meal of grilled steaks and veggies with the mushroom sauce was delicious. Afterward, we followed it up with a grilled desert. This is something that Dennis has done several times and is a great way to use peaches if you have bought a few too many of them and are getting a bit sick of just eating them. The original recipe for these is from epicurious.com and can be found here: Grilled Brown-Sugar Peaches with White Chocolate. I have made it with white chocolate, and while it is good I have a grudge against white chocolate because it pretends that it is chocolate when it is not. Our modification uses real dark chocolate.

Our recipe modification:

2 peaches cut in half

Mix 2 tablespoons melted butter with 1 tablespoon brown sugar and a dash of cinnamon. Add the peach halves and toss to coat them in mixture.

Place the peaches on the grill flat side down for about one minute, until they heat up and start to brown.

Flip the peaches and fill with:

2 Tablespoons (or more) finely chopped dark chocolate
Any extra sugar mixture

Grill until the chocolate starts to melt. (About 1 minute)

Eat as is, or serve with ice cream, whipping cream, chocolate sauce or other toppings. The last time we made this I got a little crazy with the desert and served with ice cream, chocolate sauce, and fresh blackberries. It was a bit over the top, but delicious.