Somehow this past winter felt like the longest winter ever. As much as I love the cooler weather, I was ready for the temperature to warm up and work on my garden. I had planned on adding a few more garden boxes for a lot of veggies and fruits, in particular alpine strawberries. It will be my third attempt growing them from seed. It takes anywhere from a few weeks to almost two months for the seeds to germinate and a whole year before the first harvest happens. Wish me luck! In the meantime, I’m content with buying strawberries from the farmers market, enjoying them fresh, showcasing them in tarts and galettes, and the most refreshing treat of all, ice cream!
Before we get to the ice cream (recipe coming soon I promise!), let’s talk about tarts! It’s been years since I posted a recipe for strawberry tart, so we’re overdue! With strawberries, their flavor is so delicate, I try not to do too much otherwise they lose their sweetness. I also added some basil leaves to the cream to provide some contrast to the mild flavor of the tart. Strawberries and basil make such a tasty combination anyway! This tart can be made the day before your gathering so it will be a bit less stressful while you're running around trying to prepare dinner. We've been enjoying this tart since strawberry season started and will be making it often until the end of summer! We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Strawberry and basil mascarpone tart
1 quantity of pastry dough
12 oz of strawberries, hulled and halved (leave about 4-5 strawberries unhulled for garnish)
2 tbsps icing sugar
¾ cup of organic heavy whipping cream
4 oz of mascarpone cheese
¼ cup of icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of Genovese basil leaves, finely chopped
Icing sugar and a few baby basil leaves for garnish
For the pastry dough
½ cup of spelt flour (if you don’t have spelt flour, you can replace with another wheat flour or all purpose flour)
½ cup of almond meal
6 tbsps of butter, chopped into cubes
2 tablespoon of icing sugar
pinch of salt
3-4 tbsps of ice-cold water
1. Sift the flours together. To make the pastry crust, place the flours, sugar, salt, and butter in a food processor and process until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
2. While the mixture is being processed, gradually add cold water until the dough comes together.
3. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead gently.
4. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for 60 minutes before rolling.
5. Remove the dough from the fridge. Roll it out on a lightly floured surface to a circle of about 10 inches wide and ¼ inch thick and line an 8-inch tart pan. Trim off the excess dough. You can save the extra dough for up to one month in the freezer.
6. Prick the tart base with a fork, cover with plastic wrap, and chill for another 30 minutes.
7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
8. Remove the tart base from the fridge, line with parchment paper and fill with baking weights (you can use rice or beans if you do not have any baking weights).
9. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the weights and bake for another 10 minutes until the pastry is golden. Let it cool to room temperature.
10. While the tart base is baking, prepare the filling. In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk together the heavy cream, mascarpone, icing sugar, and vanilla until thick.
11. Gently fold the chopped basil into the cream mixture. Put the cream mixture in the fridge while the tart base is cooling.
12. Place strawberries in a bowl and toss with the icing sugar. Refrigerate the strawberries if the tart base is still cooling.
13. When the tart shell is ready, fill the tart shell with the basil cream and arrange the strawberries on top.
14. Before serving the tart, garnish with baby basil leaves and a dusting of icing sugar.
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