Roasted strawberry tart

Summer in a pretzel crust

Roasted strawberries get blended and whisked into a light, zippy, greek yogurt panna cotta and poured into a salty-sweet pretzel graham crust. Summer in a dessert. Top it with some vanilla bean greek yogurt whip, a little fig leaf oil, and some edible flowers? You basically have a fancy restaurant in your house!

If you choose to make the fig leaf oil (which I highly recommend), use a good, clean neutral oil to let the vibrant vanilla, grassy notes of the fig leaf shine. I like Algae Cooking Club (and you can get 15% off here).

The crust recipe is an adaptation of the Graham Cracker Crust from Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz.

Ingredients:

Roasted Strawberries:

• One quart strawberries, washed & hulled

• 1 tsp balsamic Vinegar (optional)

• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (optional)

• Granulated Sugar

Pretzel Graham Crust:

• 85g (4-5 sheets) graham crackers, broken

• 85g (1.5 cups) pretzels, broken

• 2 Tbsp demerara or turbinado sugar

• 1/2 tsp diamond crystal kosher salt*

• 85g (6Tbsp) butter, room temp, in cubes

• 1 large egg yolk

Strawberry Tart Filling:

• 480g (2 C) heavy cream

• 200 g (3/4 C) full fat greek yogurt

• 100g (1/2 C) granulated sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

• 7g (2 1/2 tsp) unflavored gelatin

• 45g (3 tbsp) cold water

Directions

Pretzel Graham Crust

Preheat your oven to 350 F.

In a food processor, add all of your crust ingredients (graham crackers, pretzels, sugar, salt, butter, yolk). Process in long pulses until everything has broken down and the mixture can clump together. It should look like wet sand and just hold together, but should not be greasy.

Transfer the mixture to a removable bottom 9inch tart pan, or pie plate. Starting with about half of the mixture, use your hands to press the crumb into the sides, forming the edges. Then, add the rest and smooth the bottom, using a 1 cup measuring cup and pressing gently until you have no more bare spots.

Place the crust on a foil lined half sheet pan and bake 15 minutes, until the edges have darkened, it is fragrant, and is somewhat firm to the touch. If it looks loose, keep baking a bit – this will not return to the oven, so browned edges are what we want! Cool while you prepare the filling.

Roasted Strawberries

Preheat your oven to 375 F. Line a half sheet baking pan with parchment paper.

Slice any large strawberries in half. Add all berries to a large bowl and toss with a sprinkle of sugar (use more (1/2-1 tbsp) for more tart/less ripe berries and less (a sprinkle or a teaspoon) for very ripe and sweet ones). Drizzle balsamic vinegar and vanilla bean paste over and toss until everything is well combined and slightly glossy.

Arrange on prepared baking sheet and roast 20-25 minutes, mixing halfway through, until thick, syrupy juices are pooling around the berries and they look soft. Remove from oven and let cool on pan 15-20 minutes.

Once cooled, transfer the roasted berries, including their juice, to a tall, deep container and blend with an immersion blender until smooth. Alternatively, blend in a blender until smooth, but ensure you do NOT do this while they are still hot or it may explode.Strain the mix through a fine mesh sieve to get rid of the seeds. This is optional, but recommended for a smooth texture and clean top. Set aside until ready.

Panna Cotta Filling

Add the cold water to a small bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin over top, mixing to combine any granules that are dry. Set aside to bloom.

In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the heavy cream and sugar. Cook, stirring to dissolve the sugar, until it is fully dissolved and the cream is hot and about to simmer. Do not let boil.**Remove from heat and add in the bloomed gelatin mix. Stir until the gelatin is fully dissolved, then add the vanilla.

Whisk the greek yogurt in a large bowl just to smooth it out. Carefully ladle small amounts of the hot cream mix into the yogurt, whisking well until smooth before adding the next to slowly temper the yogurt and avoid lumps. Once about half of the cream is successfully tempered in, pour the remaining cream into the bowl and whisk until combined.Add in 300g of the roasted strawberry puree (you may have a bit extra – enjoy on yogurt, in place of jam, dolloped onto cake, etc!) and whisk to combine.

Pour into the cooled tart crust, popping any surface bubbles with a toothpick. Let cool at room temp if still hot, and then transfer to the fridge for at least 4-6 hours to set.Slice and serve as is, or top with a lightly sweetened greek yogurt whip and some fig leaf oil for an elegant twist.

*use half the amount of salt if using Morton

**Optionally, for extra flavor (but way more work fair warning) steep some freeze dried strawberries in the warming milk mix, and let it sit on very low heat to just maintain heat but not boil for 20-30 minutes and strain. Then bring back to temp before proceeding