Strawberry Seduction

When I saw the link for this event, I knew then that I had to come up with something. Who couldn't want to be Seduced by Strawberries. And Reading about Mike's 6lb's of Berries just made me want to come up with something even more. Of course, it took until almost the last day to get anything made. I wanted so much to be original and creative, I mulled over a couple different idea's and really want to make my version of Strawberry Risotto, but seeing as I am still trying to figure out how to put it together and not having the cash to make and remake til it is perfect right now, I settled for something a tid bit simpler. I browsed on line, and printed a slew of recipes just hoping to decide what to make. It has to be good enough for Strawberry Seduction of course. Well I am a Pie fan, and love me some crumb pie. So I decided on a Strawberry Crumb Pie, but, instead, it would be a tart, a nice 11 inch tart. and the urge to take this to work tomorrow is there, but damn I think I am just going to keep this one for myself.

Strawberry Crumb Tart:

Crust:
1 stick of butter
3 oz cream cheese
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
pinch of salt

Crumb topping:

1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup oatmeal
4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled slightly
(ok I can't put something else in this, so I had a few sprinkles of my Pampered Chef cinnamon and Carmel sprinkles into this, they just sounded too good.)

Filling:

6 cups(2 lbs) quartered strawberries
1/2 c granulated sugar
2 tsp fresh lemon joice
2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch (OMG!!! I just literally realized while it is baking that my dumb dumb ass did teaspoons not tablespoons..dang it dang it dang it..its gonna be soupy =( sigh )
1/4 tsp grated orange zest

In the bowl of a food processor combine butter and cream cheese and process until smooth. Add flour and salt and process just until mixture comes together to form a ball. Remove dough from the processor and shape into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.


While the pie crust is chilling, prepare the crumb topping. Combine the 1/3 cup sugar, 1/2 cup flour and the oatmeal in a small bowl and toss to combine. ( I added the sprinkles stuff to this part ). Add the melted butter and stir until thoroughly incorporated. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Working on a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough out to a thickness of 1/8 inch and fit it into a 10- 11 inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Return pie crust to the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Then blind bake until lightly golden, about 18 minutes. Remove and transfer to a wire rack to cool while you assemble the filling. Increase the oven temperature to 375 degrees.

In a mixing bowl combine the strawberries with the sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch and toss to combine. Spoon the filling into the prepared crust and spread the crumb topping evenly over the top of the filling. Bake in the middle of the oven for 1 hour or until filling is bubbly and crust and crumb topping are golden brown. Transfer to a rack to cool to room temp before serving.

I will tell you, the filling is awesome, I kept picking at the strawberries cause they were soo good lol and it smells amazing, and soon I will know how good it is lol. It looks fantastic though!! and hehe yes its pretty damn good too!! damn was today a great productive day!!
Now ..hmm I still have a few Berries left, wonder if I can pull something else off before tomorrow ha-ha!

Well I did, and why do 2 posts when I can just add to this one. I had about 15 berries left, and decided to try to roast them. And why just roast them? heck stuff some too.
Of course, I either have a big dish or a small dish, so I chose the small dish and fit about a dozen berries in it. I took about 2 Tblsp unsalted butter and melted it in my dish. I then split a vanilla bean and scraped the seeds into that. I took each strawberry cut a little bit off the tip and the trimmed the top. Cut out the center so I had a small center to stuff. In half the strawberries I place 2-4 bittersweet chocolate chips, the others I sprinkled with orange zest. I then sprinkled 2 tbsp of brown sugar over all the berries, and a sprinkle of the Pampered chef sprinkles as well. I placed the cut vanilla bean on top and place in a 400 degree oven for about 15-20 min. Watch them, you want them soft and slumping, but not burnt.
Pull them out of the oven and let them sit to cool for about 20 min. Gently scoop out the berries and pour the juices into a sauce pan. Bring to a boil and simmer until thick and syrupy. I kept the vanilla bean pod in it until the end for ultimate flavor. Pour over Berries and enjoy =). After eating this one, the Bittersweet chocolate was oh my gosh intense!! good but almost too intense for more than maybe 2 berries in a sitting, the orange were soo yummy!! over some pound cake, who needs traditional short cake anymore?? Not me. Both would be great over Vanilla Ice Cream as well, just barely warm so they melt it a bit..mmm...WOohoo Thanks Mike!! this was tons of fun!!
Woohoo...2 entries, am so proud ha-ha!