I thought it would be best to start things off with a traditional french dessert: the French fruit tart. I put this one together in about 2 hours one evening when Chris' dad came over for dinner (more on the ribs we made that night later!). Anyway, on Thursday nights in South Pasadena there is a phenomenal farmers' market that's really more like a street festival every week than a farmers market. Chris and I always find the most amazing strawberries there and I thought that this traditional tart would be a great way to show them off.
I mixed and matched a few recipes to make this tart. The crust was a shortbread crust taken from "The Art and Soul of Baking." I've been known to read this book in bed as it's so incredibly informative and visually enticing. After baking, the crust was sealed with a thin layer of melted semisweet chocolate to prevent moisture from making it soggy. Next came the creme patisserie. Julia Child says that every good chef should know how to make a good creme patisserie - so I used her recipe from "Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1." In my opinion, everyone who owns a stove should be required to have this book. (It's another one I read in bed often.) Creme patisserie requires a lot of arm strength to whisk the cream as it thickens, but is very rewarding in the end. The creme patisserie was spread evenly over the tart crust and briefly refrigerated to let it firm up a bit. After a little while, I arranged the sliced strawberries around the top of the creme patisserie and then brushed them with a little bit of heated seedless strawberry jam, so that they just shimmered. If you want, you can use any variety of berries in combination with each other to design an unlimited number of French fruit tarts.
As far as taste is concerned, this is the perfect summer dessert. It's light and refreshing and takes full advantage of the sweetest strawberries around.
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