strawberry goat cheese tart

This recipe was inspired by the Strawberry Mascarpone Tart in Nigel Slater's book Kitchen Diaries. I loved reading this book and learning more about Slater's approach to food, which I think is very sane. The book is, literally, a diary of food, a record of everything he prepared throughout the year. On one page, he might complain about a lack of authentic taramasalata, or he might wax poetic about some obscure cheese, but a few pages later, he says, without apology, that he bought two cans of baked beans, frozen fries, and beer to have for dinner. I can relate, though I still feel a need to apologize.


I knew I wanted to make this tart, but I wasn't sure how to replace the cow-sourced mascarpone. I decided to use creamy chèvre, which already pairs well with strawberries. Goat cheese is much thicker than mascarpone, so I lightened it with yogurt.


My apology is for using store-bought cookies. I hate typing up a recipe that makes use of a prepared food, but the whole point of this dessert was to avoid turning on the oven. The weather is beautiful right now, but my house's south-facing windows have a polarizing effect, especially combined with the reflective surface of the lake. So it's much, much warmer inside than out, and I already have no desire to cook anything.

I can tell that it's spring because I can buy strawberries from several different sources in the same day without thinking about what I'm doing. I found beautiful strawberries at the farmer's market, then organic strawberries on sale at the co-op, then huge boxes of regular strawberries on sale at the grocery store, which I bought to freeze. Needless to say, the market berries had the best flavor, and were red all the way through, which is a rare sight indeed.

Strawberry Goat Cheese Tart

(adapted from Kitchen Diaries)

crust:
6 oz. lemon, orange, or oat cookies (I used GF lemon cookies)
3 T. pastured butter or coconut oil, melted

filling:
8 oz. soft goat cheese, at room temperature
1/4 c. plain, full-fat yogurt
1 egg, separated
2 T. powdered sugar
2 drops vanilla extract

1/2 lb. strawberries, sliced

Crush the cookies using a food processor,
or the old-fashioned way with a baggie and a rolling pin.
Melt the butter or oil and combine with the cookies.
Press into a 9" pie pan, going just half an inch or so up the sides.
The crust is meant to be crumbly, so don't press too hard.
Refrigerate the crust while preparing the filling.

Whisk the egg with the sugar to fully combine.
Add the cheese and yogurt and beat to combine.
Add the vanilla.
Beat the egg white until soft peaks form, then fold it gently into the filling.
(I admit to skipping this step because I don't have electric beaters and I'm, um, lazy.
I didn't think anything was missing from skipping it.)
Spread the filling over the crust, pushing the cream all the way to the edge.

Arrange the strawberries over the top.
Refrigerate until ready to eat.
Leave it out for a few minutes to soften before slicing.
Enjoy!

(This recipe is a part of Fight Back Friday @ Food Renegade.)