There has been a young guy selling strawberries on the local main street in the past couple of weeks, a pallet of rather healthy-looking berries laid out on the footpath in front of him as he greets passers-by. The strawberries are quite tasty, though the price is more than the nearby supermarket charges.
I had to know, is it really strawberry season, for the prices to be fairly low and the fruit so plentiful? So I looked up my culinary encyclopaedia (Stephanie Alexander’s Cook’s Companion). It says that strawberries are of the genus Fragaria, which is a member of the rose family. They are harvested in southern Australia during summer, and in Queensland (northern Australia) during winter. The peak season is September to January (spring to mid-summer here). And, get this, “some berries appearing in the Southern states during winter may not be worth eating”.
Forewarned is forearmed, as the saying goes. However, the strawberries around at the moment all seem pretty good, and very reasonably priced. Good enough motive to dig in and enjoy the bounty. And do I have a recipe for you (or, rather, Donna Hay does).
Mini strawberry tarts
makes 6
Ingredients
30g butter
¼ cup caster sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 tblsp water
250g strawberries, hulled and halved
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
Method
1. Place the butter, sugar, vanilla and water into a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to the boil, stirring while the sugar dissolves, then cook for another 2 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Lightly grease six holes of a 1/3-cup muffin tin. Place the strawberries in the holes, then spoon over the butter/sugar syrup.
3. Cut rounds of puff pastry to fit over the muffin holes, then put the pastry over the strawberries, pushing in the edges to cover the strawberries.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the pastry is golden. To serve, carefully use a spoon to remove the tarts from the tin (be careful, they’re hot!). Tarts are best eaten while still warm.
recipe adapted from donna hay (dec/jan 2012)
recipe adapted from donna hay (dec/jan 2012)
Lovely strawberries.
Place the strawbs into a muffin tray, then cover with caramel and puff pastry.
Gorgeous red tarts, coveted by the queen of hearts.
Hi Bel
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining the Berry Nice to Meet You hop - your tarts look gorgeous!
You just need to complete steps 3 and 4 detailed here -
http://hungryaustralian.com/2012/08/20/strawberry-soup/# - so your entry appears in the hop and I can approve your entry.
Looking forward to being able to see your entry in the hop soon!
Cheers
Christina
I like the idea of using the puff dough and awesome that the strawberries are all melting...beautiful Bel :)
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your week!
I feel like strawberries are always super unpredictable no matter which season you're in so if they taste good then just go for it. I love these little tarts!
ReplyDeleteLove! Almost like tart tatin but strawberries and mini :) so cute and delicious!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful little tarts Bel! This is a seriously approachable recipe and a great way to show of the beautiful strawbs.
ReplyDeleteWow, they look absolutely delicious! I want one right now!
ReplyDeleteI was wondering the same thing! Strawberries seem to be everywhere including on blogs although I didn't get so far as to look up the season. These tarts look so luscious! :D
ReplyDeleteMy goodness me, am loving the look of those strawberries! If there was an emoticon that had a face with love hearts as they eyes, I would be using that excessively right now.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous tarts - I'm going to have to get some more strawberries!
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining this hop :)
I was thinking about making similar tarts with all of these cheap strawberries. These look terrific!
ReplyDeleteVery berry! Looks delicious :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful mini tart tatins! They are berry delicious too.
ReplyDeleteThese look so cute and delicious!
ReplyDeleteso moist and fruity! The color is great too!
ReplyDeleteThese look reeeeeally yummy. Want!
ReplyDelete