Little red balls of goodness. Strawberries are a great source of Vitamin C and K. They have been used throughout history in a medicinal context to help with skin irritations and even teeth whitening.
Strawberries have a long history and have been enjoyed since Roman times. Like many fruits, strawberries make their claim in history as a luxury item enjoyed only by royalty.
At the Good from Scratch cookery school, we have moved a lot of our strawberry plants to a mound and named it ” Strawberry Hill ”
We have literally hundreds of plants and they are full of flowers, so we are expecting an abundance of delicious fruit for the up and coming classes and dare I say it Xmas Functions!
So this week we have a pretty special recipe, strawberries and balsamic.
Frangipane puff tart w Balsamic strawberries
- 125g butter softened
- 125g caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- 125g ground almonds
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 2 sheets frozen puff pastry
- 2 punnets fresh strawberries, hulled
- 150ml balsamic vinegar
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- A handful of mint leaves
- 150ml crème Fraiche or yoghurt
Preheat the oven to 180*C. Beat one of the eggs with a fork to make an egg wash. Brush this around the edge of one of the sheets of puff pastry. Cut a 5cm “frame” from the other sheet and lay this on top of the egg-washed sheet. Pinch the edges together and prick the centre of the pastry with a fork. Lay the pastry sheets on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
In a food processor, blitz the butter, sugar, 2 eggs, almonds, flour.
½, 1 punnet of strawberries and fold through the frangipane mix. Spoon this mix into the centre of the pastry sheets. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool.
Balsamic strawberries
In a small saucepan, put the balsamic and brown sugar and reduce over heat to about 3 Tbsp of thick liquid. Mix 1 Tbsp through the crème Fraiche. Cut the second punnet of strawberries in half and mix these through the balsamic reduction.
Spoon these over the tart along with the crème Fraiche or yoghurt and garnish with mint leaves.