This tart is a quite classic dessert in
Southern Italy, specially during summertime, when fresh strawberries are sold
on the side of the street by local producers and farmers. It has a very old
fashion taste, something in between familiar and ageless.
I find it absolutely irresistible, but I
decided to give it a new twist, adding the hazelnut meal, the spices and replacing
the White flour and white sugar, with a healthier Raw Sugar and wholemeal
flour.. I also swapped the lemon juice and zest with the orange, that goes so
well with strawberries.. It is great served with some orange syrup (recipe can
be found in the Gluten free Orange cake) or Greek yogurt (healthier than cream J ) and
enjoyed with some tea or Italian coffee on the side..
The trick to make this cake work is to
respect the refrigeration process involved on the pastry. Promise.
For 8-10 people
700 gr strawberries, hulled and chopped
70gr raw sugar
30gr cornflour
Rind and juice of an orange
Seeds of 1 vanilla bean
Pastry
175gr softened butter
150gr raw sugar
3 egg yolks
250gr wholemeal flour
150gr hazelnut meal
2tsp cinnamon
1tsp
nutmeg
1tsp baking powder
For spiced hazelnut pastry beat butter and
sugar until fluffy (electric mixer is allowed..), than add yolks and combine.
Add remaining ingredients and combine, form into a disk and refrigerate for about
1 hour (trick number 1). Combine strawberries, sugar, cornflour, rinds, juice
and vanilla beans. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured piece of baking
paper and line on a 24 cm diameter tart tin and trim edges. Preheat the oven at
180°.
Put back in the fridge. Roll out remaining
dough in a rectangle and use a star shaped biscuits cutter to shape your
decorations. Put the rectangle in the freezer and leave it there for 10
minutes. This will facilitate the decoration process, as the pastry will become
easier to manage and won’t break so easily.
Get the tart tin out of the fridge and fill
it with the fruit and spices mix.
Now get your decorations from the freezer and
create your own pattern.
Brush pastry with eggwash and bake for until
crisp and golden, approximately 30-35 minutes at 180°. Cool in tin for 20
minutes than gently remove it using baking paper edges (trick number 2)
Serve
with icing sugar and some orange syrup or Greek yogurt on the side.
