Tuesday 10 June 2008

A perfect dessert for a warm summer's day


This past weekend, it finally felt like summer arrived in London. The weather on Sunday was just absolutely picture perfect with temperatures hitting a balmy 25 degrees. For the first time in a long time, I could comfortably wear a sleeveless top and slip into shorts. It was, weather-wine, definitely the finest day all year, which made it just perfect for this week's TWD pick - La Palette's strawberry tart.

You see, right about this time of year, the supermarket shelves are just bursting with colour from all the in-season fruit. I had no trouble at all finding these gorgeous, juicy strawberries from Kent in my local grocer. The real difficulty was keeping myself from polishing these off before the tart was ready because they just looked so damn good.

The interesting thing about this tart is that instead of a cream or custard-based filling, the shortbread-like pastry crust is simply adorned with a generous layer of strawberry jam, topped with heaping tablespoonfuls of ripe strawberries and finished with a dollop of creme fraiche. This means that the tart is great for when you need to prepare a dessert in advance, such as for a dinner party. Just bake the tart shell the day before, then right before serving slather on the jam, spoon on the strawberries and voila! A picture perfect dessert for the summer.



PS: The TWD-ers have decided that going forward, we will stop posting Dorie's recipes each week. Since there are now so many of us, its almost as if we're giving away the book for free, which is really not our intention.

31 comments:

Rebecca of "Ezra Pound Cake" said...

So lovely! These slices look amazing.

Rebecca
http://www.ezrapoundcake.com

Anonymous said...

That slice looks absolutely delightful in that shallow white bowl. Great work!

steph- whisk/spoon said...

looks great, and those berries are incredible!

CB said...

Beautiful presentation! Great job!
Clara @ I♥food4thought

Linda said...

I do agree...it is a perfect summer dessert. Those berries do look scrumptious!

Di said...

Your tart looks delicious. And I'm envious of your 25 degree weather. Here in Texas it's been more like 95-100 degrees (36-38 for you, if I'm calculating it right).

Annemarie said...

Beautiful! I loved this recipe!

Engineer Baker said...

I'm glad you finally got some summer weather!

Unknown said...

How gorgeous - and perfect for summer!

Lori said...

Its a good thing for a make ahead dessert! I liked its somplicity.

marae said...

this tart photographs so well, simplicity at it's best. lovely!

Eleganza Strings/ The DeLadurantey Family said...

Wow! I really like your pictures, there great.

annmartina said...

Summer in London with strawberries from Kent. Sounds like heaven to this Minnesota girl. Your tart looks beautiful.

Susie Homemaker said...

So pretty! I had a hard time keeping my paws off of the strawberries too - but I'm glad enough survived to make it into the tart!

ostwestwind said...

I agree, a perfect dish for a warm and sunny day

Ulrike from Küchenlatein

Erin said...

Your slice looks wonderful. Thanks for a great pick this week. We really enjoyed the tart!

Erin said...

I got confused...you're choosing NEXT week! I'm excited about that too! :)

kimberly salem said...

beautiful looking tart! :) nice work!

Jayne said...

Beautiful! Isn't strawberry season wonderful?!

Amanda said...

Your tart looks so yummy! I am SO nervous about your creme puff ring pick!!! It will be the most difficult thing I have ever done- I hope I have time to do it because I am hosting a shower at my house this weekend. I can't wait to see everyone's results!!!

Amy said...

Your tart looks beautiful!

Dolores said...

I love the ease and versatility of this recipe... I'm going to return to it all summer (and well into the fall) with whatever fruit is abundant in the moment.

Heather B said...

Your tart looks delicious! Great job!

Cecilia said...

The tart looks lovely. I'm glad that summer came in just in time for this week's TWD selection. Wonderful work!

Linda said...

I also loved the simplicity in this recipe. I do agree that this is the perfect no fuss dinner party dessert.

Beautiful tart!

Gretchen Noelle said...

Delicious looking tart. Lovely!

Mari said...

We've had the same weather here in the Netherlands as well! Loving it! This is most definitely a seasonal recipe and it's nice to have the seasonal weather to go with it.

Shari@Whisk: a food blog said...

That slice looks perfect!
Shari@Whisk: a food blog

Allison said...

Your tart came out so picture-perfect. Great job!

Jaime said...

it really IS picture perfect!

Unknown said...

pretty dessert!