Janelle Bloom 'Family Food & Weekend Feasts'

 Here is an amazing recipe from Janelle Bloom's latest cookbook 'Family Food & Weekend Feasts'

Ice-cream with chocolate sauce or canned fruit and custard is more often than not what’s on offer midweek. While there’s nothing wrong with that, especially if the chocolate sauce and custard are homemade, sometimes a little more effort is called for. Whether it’s a family birthday, a note from school about an upcoming fundraiser, friends dropping in for a casual get-together, or just time to spoil the ones you love for no reason at all, something sweet that requires little effort with maximum results is what you want. 

 

Strawberry & cream tart
This amazing tart is one of the easiest you will ever make. You can have it on the table within 30 minutes.



Serves 6
You’ll Need:
500g strawberries, hulled, halved
2 tablespoons pure icing sugar
1 tablespoon liqueur (such as Kahlúa or
Grand Marnier), optional
2 sheets frozen ready-rolled
puff pastry **
1 tablespoon white sugar
250g mascarpone

1. Place the strawberries in a bowl, sprinkle over the icing sugar, then drizzle over the liqueur, if using. Toss gently to combine, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven and a large fl at tray to 200°C fan-forced. Place 1 pastry sheet on a piece of baking paper. Top with the second sheet, then sprinkle the top sheet with the white sugar.
3. Being careful not to cut all the way through, use a small sharp knife to cut a 2cm-thick border around all four of the pastry edges. Place a 19cm square piece of baking paper in the centre of the pastry (inside the border), then place a 19cm square (base) cake pan on top. *Half fill the pan with rice. Using the paper, quickly lift the pastry onto the hot tray and bake for 15 minutes, or until the edges are light golden. Remove the cake pan and the piece of baking paper under it and bake for a further 8–10 minutes, until crisp and cooked through. Set aside to cool on the tray.
4. Keeping within the border, spoon the mascarpone evenly over the pastry base. Spoon over the strawberries and any syrup in the bowl. Serve.

*The pan helps to press down and condense the centre of the tart, which makes the base crisp and also allows the borders to rise higher.
**If you are like me and have discovered Carême frozen pastry, replace the 2 sheets with 1 × 450g packet, rolled out to a 23cm square.

Random House Australia