Brilliant red strawberries picked at the peak of their ripeness floating on a bed of creamy mascarpone and suspended over a crisp rye flour crust…
You need this tart.
We are on the cusp of strawberry season here in California and this easy-peasy (and indulgent) strawberry tart is a perfect recipe for those lazy days of early summer when it is a chore to so much as peel a carrot. You know those idyllic days. You switch off the phone. You find a warm corner in your sunny summer garden where you slip off your shoes, rub your toes in the warm garden soil, and take a few yoga-ish deep breaths of the fresh garden air. Undisturbed (except for for the occasional plucky hummingbird whizzing by), you read a good book–for hours. Then you take a nap. (Feel free to substitute your own summer fantasy here. This one works for me every time.)
This recipe is adapted from Yossy Arefi’s Sweeter Off The Vine. You can buy the book on Amazon. Here is the link: Amazon.
Save RecipeIngredients
- 2/3 C. all-purpose flour
- 2/3 C. rye flour
- 1/2 t. salt
- 1 1/2 t. apple cider vinegar
- 9 T. very cold unsalted butter (cut into 1/2 inch cubes)
- 1 large egg (lightly beaten--for egg wash)
- For the Tart
- 1 C. mascarpone (at room temperature)
- 3 T. granulated sugar
- 1 pound small, sweet strawberries
- 3 T. high-quality strawberry jam
Instructions
- To make the crust, whisk all-purpose and rye flours together with the salt.
- Add cold butter to flour mixture and mix in your food processor until the flour butter mixture looks like coarse meal with some pea-sized lumps of butter.
- Mix apple cider vinegar with 5 T. ice water. Sprinkle 3 T. of the cold vinegar-water mixture over the flour mixture and pulse in your food processor until the dough begins to come together. If your flour mixture is too dry, add in more of the cold water-vinegar mixture. (I did.) Your dough is finished when you can squeeze it together in your hand and it doesn't fall apart. My dough actually began to form a ball in my food processor.
- Form the dough into a disk and wrap it in plastic wrap. Chill the dough for at least 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Using a lightly-floured piece of parchment paper, roll out the dough into an oval shape that measures about 15 inches by 6 inches and is 1/4-inch thick. Trim the edges of the dough with a knife to make a rectangle with straight sides. Place the dough (still on the parchment paper) on a rimless baking sheet. Dock the crust with a fork and brush the dough with the egg wash.
- Bake the crust for 15 to 20 minutes at 400 degrees F.. Check the dough halfway through baking to see if it has formed any bubbles on the surface of the dough. If it has, use a spatula to press them flat. Cool the crust completely in the pan. When the crust is completely cool, ease it out of the pan and off the parchment paper onto a serving plate.
- To prepare the tart, combine the mascarpone and 2 T. sugar. Mascarpone should be at room temperature so that it mixes and spreads easily. Spread the mascarpone on top of the cooled crust. Put strawberry jam on top of the mascarpone and spread the jam across the mascarpone with a spatula. Top the mascarpone/jam layer with a layer of sliced strawberries. Arrange the strawberries in a decorative pattern with the edges of the strawberries slightly overlapping. Sprinkle the remaining 1 T. sugar on top of the strawberries.
- Slice and serve. This tart is best when eaten shortly after assembling.
