Strawberry Tart, clearly homemade

Let's talk strawberries. We've had such an abundance of strawberries lately in the markets. I love summer fruit season the best. There are so many varieties available to us this time of year; I mean seasonally freshly available. (In the northern hemisphere) We have had the strawberries in cereal, for dessert with a dollop of cream and drizzle of chocolate, and here....below...is my half-assed attempt at a strawberry tart.



The taste was fine, the aesthetic quality gets a big fat F! No matter...my tummy never said, "Oh, what an ugly misshapen pile of sweet food stuff you have just tipped into me." No, no it didn't.


Ingredients
(Change Servings/amounts if you are cutting back to make a small pie or tarts)

1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
1 quart fresh strawberries
1/2 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Arrange half of strawberries in baked pastry shell. Mash remaining berries and combine with sugar in a medium saucepan. Place saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.




In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and water. Gradually stir cornstarch mixture into boiling strawberry mixture. Reduce heat and simmer mixture until thickened, about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour mixture over berries in pastry shell. Chill for several hours before serving. In a small bowl, whip cream until soft peaks form. Serve each slice of pie with a dollop of whipped cream.

If asked what my favorite summer fruits are I would venture to say strawberries because you can do many different things with them. Peaches are great too - if you can find some that aren't mealy or disappointing.

What would your choice be, if you could only pick one or two fruits to indulge in during their season? That's unfair to ask since we really aren't limited in choice as markets have fruit shipped in from all over the world. But seasonally fresh fruit....it always tastes better.

Coming up soon - Party Potatoes!