Thursday, May 19, 2011

rhubarb tart with strawberry whipped cream


My cousin Angie was in town visiting over the weekend, and the day she arrived I picked her up from the airport and immediately whisked her off to the Chez Panisse Cafe for lunch.  Everything was delicious.  And my favorite part, of course, was dessert.  We shared a rhubarb tart with strawberry ice cream, and it was such a perfect combination.  I often see rhubarb-strawberry combinations in pie form, but I've never thought of having those same flavors in separate components served together.


Later on in the weekend, I decided to attempt a rhubarb tart, inspired by the one we'd had at Chez Panisse.  I made my favorite all-butter pie crust recipe (which is just flour, salt, sugar, butter, and ice water), and pressed it into a 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom.  Then I sliced my rhubarb stalks into skinny batons, and tossed them with flour, sugar, and a pinch of salt.  Finally I arranged them nicely on top of my prepared tart dough, and baked it at 350 F for a little over an hour.



I loved the way it looked when it came out of the oven ... the pattern from the rhubarb, the beautiful pink color, and the look of the crust dotted with sanding sugar that I had sprinkled on before baking ... and it smelled great too!


I had wanted to make strawberry ice cream to go with it also, but forgot to put my ice cream freezer bowl in the freezer that day, so it wouldn't have been cold enough in time to make ice cream in time.  Angie had the brilliant idea to make a strawberry whipped cream to go with it instead, which turned out to be a delicious compliment to the tart.  And it was so simple - after whipping the heavy cream with a bit of confectioner's sugar, I added pureed strawberries to taste, and whipped it until just combined.


When I served a slice of the cooled tart with a scoop of the strawberry whipped cream, we decided that the tart alone was a bit too tart, but with the strawberry whipped cream it was perfect!

8 comments:

  1. Absolutely gorgeous! And pairing with strawberrt whipped cream was an incredible idea...yum!

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  2. That looks sooooooooo yummy! I don't think I've ever had that flavour pie but I keep hearing about it and would love to try it!

    Wish I could have a piece of this one :)

    SL

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  3. I love the way it looked when it came out of the oven toooooooooo! It's breathtaking!

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  4. @Lizzy - thank you! i think i'd add more strawberries to the whipped cream next time, for more strawberry flavor and more pink color :)

    @Sarah-Lyn - ohhh you definitely should try rhubarb! its very tart, but delicious :)

    @Tiffany - thank you!

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  5. Beautiful! I love the long cuts vs the short chops of the rhubarb. Great job!

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  6. hi.. where do I find the recipe of this beautiful tart?! I wanna bake this soo bad!

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    Replies
    1. @Anonymous - leave your email address and i'll send you the recipe!

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