C'est si Bon!

I was thrilled and excited beyond belief when my turn came around to host Tuesdays With Dorie. Yes folks, it's that time of the week again . . . . Tuesday. Tuesday, the one day of the week that I get to play with a bazillion other bakers around the world and bake the same delicious recipe from that fabulous baking book by Dorie Greenspan, Baking, from my home to yours. Only this week it's even better because I GOT to pick the recipe!!!

Oh, what an awesome responsibility that is. I mean . . . so many bakers counting on me to pick something that is not only delicious but something that they, themselves would want to bake. I hmmmed and hawwwed over so many and waffled back and forth and back and forth. It took me days to decide. Should it be the Tender Shortcakes on page 423, or the Chocolate Armagnac Cake on page 279 (That's the cake that got her fired!) So many recipes, so much responsibility, what to do . . . what to do . . .



I decided at the end to go with something that was quite seasonal and something that people could adjust to whatever their own tastes where and whatever season it might be according to where they lived . . . La Palette's Strawberry Tart on page 374.

Mmmmm . . . . delectably crisp sweet pastry, topped with yummy preserves, ripe and luscious sweet berries, and the piece de resistance . . . a crown of tangy and creamy creme la fraiche! Once I'd made my mind up I could hardly wait to get stuck in.



Now, I've made Dorie's sweet pastry before and I have to say it's one of the easiest versions of a sweet pastry I have ever made. Based on a basic French recipe for pate Sablee, it's buttery, tender and sandy just like a lovely shortbread cookie and best of all, the food processor does all the fancy footwork! You don't even have to roll it out! You just lightly press it into your tart tin and voila!!! You have a lovely crust waiting to be baked, with the added bonus of it smelling extraordinarily moreish while it is baking!! It is all you can do to keep yourself from eating it right out of the oven . . . but you must wait. It's like that with a lot of things in life and thankfully I learned my lesson young . . . that the best things in life are worth waiting for, and this folks is no exception.



I baked the crust one day and we had it the next. Another good thing about this recipe is you don't need to fill and eat the whole thing at one time. Oh, you can of course if you are having company or have a large family to feed, but for just Todd and I, it's perfect as there are only two of us and this recipe allowed for me to make just two slices up fresh when we wanted to eat it and I still had the rest of the tart crust waiting for another day when we wanted to eat it again, without any filling making it soggy or anything. All's it took was a sharp serrated knife and I had two lovely slices of crust waiting on plates for me to dress them up.



This is strawberry season over here and the shops are now beginning to fill with lovely red and juicy British Strawberries. Now, I may be biased but I think British Strawberries are the best in the world. I am not sure if it's the soil, or the rain or what . . . but a British strawberry cannot be beat.



In honor of the French inspiration for this recipe I used Bon Maman strawberry preserves to spread on the crusts and I did so very generously. I sliced the smaller berries in half and quartered the larger ones and thought to myself that if I was a drinking woman a bit of vanilla schnapps would go good with these, but instead I made a vanilla syrup and tossed them with a bit of that, just enough to give them a hint of vanilla flavour without masking the sweet goodness of the actual berry. I sprinkled them over the jammy slices of crisp pastry and then ground a bit of black pepper over all. Then the creme fraiche got lovingly draped on top.

Mmmmmmm . . . .



Ahhhhhhhhhh . . . .

Bliss . . .



This easily has to be one of the easiest and tastiest tarts I have eaten in a long time, and trust me when I say I have eaten a lot of tarts! But, just don't take my word for it. Hop on over to the Dorie blogroll and see what everyone else had to say about it!!

I'd love to be able to give you the recipe for it, but then I'd have to kill you . . . besides we're not allowed to do that anymore, but truly, I highly recommend your buying the book for yourselves. It's worth every single penny and the bonus would be that you could join the baking group too! Go on . . . you know you want to! Baking, from my home to yours, by Dorie Greenspan. or if you are in the UK, you can go here. Trust me . . . worth every penny!



And just so you know how very versatile this recipe is, yesterday I decided to use up the last few pieces of crust and make another delicious version . . . this one had Bon Maman raspberry preserved spread on the bottom and was topped with a delicious combination of sliced ripe nectarines and fresh raspberries. Sprinkled with a bit of icing sugar and dolloped with creme fraiche, I truly did die and go to heaven . . . this had to be the best combination of all!



Next week's recipe will be Peppermint Creme Puff Ring on pages 290-292, as chosen by Caroline of A Consuming Passion. Now, THAT will be a real challenge for me! Last time I tried to make cream puffs, I was 14 and ended up with eggy blobs! Ohh, I can't wait!