On Memorial Day, most people are out on the boat, floating down a river drinking beer, or grilling out poolside. What did we do? We picked strawberries. Not just any strawberries though. The kind of strawberries that taste like they’ve been coated in sugar and are dripping with juice before you even pull them off of their little green bush. It might sound like something a 60 year-old couple that wears shade hats and fanny packs would do, but I can’t think of anything better. When you first get to Sauvie Island, there’s a strawberry farm right off of the highway that EVERYONE in their mother goes to. It was way over crowded, so we kept on driving for a few miles and came across Sauvie Island Farms. It was picturesque and there was hardly any people which was amazing. We grabbed our cardboard box and got to picking. It’s hard to get the box full because for every strawberry you pick, you also pop one in your mouth. I couldn’t believe how many bees there were! It sounded like cars whizzing by since there was so many over our head. 

Once we picked enough to fill our box and our hands were sticky and coated with strawberry juice and dirt we called it quits and headed home to make a strawberry tart. I had in my head something completely different when I wanted to make a tart, but what came out ended up being SO much better. Have you ever watched Chef’s Table on Netflix? If you haven’t then I highly recommend it. In the first season, Massimo Bottura creates a dessert called “Oops, I dropped the lemon tart”. One day he dropped the lemon tart he was making and it ended up looking so cool that he decided to keep it that way. It’s kind of how our strawberry tart turned out! It wasn’t very pretty but it tasted incredible. We made a crust, baked it and filled it with the fresh strawberries, and then made a strawberry reduction and sabayon sauce to go on top. As I’m writing this I just had the urge to hop in my car to go pick strawberries just so I can justify making that sabayon sauce again and slurping it right out of the bowl. No judgement right? Any who, even though there is several steps to making this dessert, it is super easy and so worth it. We cheated and bought vanilla ice cream from Trader Joe’s, but if you made your own that would make it even better. Scroll down for the recipes and enjoy!!!

Strawberry Tart

For the Crust: Recipe from Food & Wine

Ingredients
6 ounces bleached all-purpose flour (1 1/4 cups)
1 stick cold unsalted butter—5 tablespoons cut into 1/4-inch dice, the rest left whole
1/4 cup cold plain whole yogurt (not Greek-style)
1/2 teaspoon salt

What to do

1. Measure the flour into a glass or ceramic bowl and freeze for 15 minutes. Freeze the 3-tablespoon-size chunk of butter for 15 minutes. Put the 5 tablespoons of diced butter on a plate and refrigerate for 15 minutes. In a glass measuring cup, combine the yogurt and salt with 1 tablespoon of cold water and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
2. Using a pastry blender or two butter knives, cut the diced butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Using your hands, rub the mixture between your hands until all of the fat is evenly distributed and the mixture resembles fine oat flakes. Using a sharp knife or a cheese plane, very thinly slice the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter and freeze the slices for 5 minutes.
3. Add the butter slices to the bowl. Toss gently to separate the slices and cut once or twice to combine them with the flour; the slices should remain cold and intact. Drizzle the cold yogurt into the bowl, using a rubber spatula to stir and toss as you drizzle. Continue tossing the dough, scraping any off the spatula and the side of the bowl, until it is crumbly and evenly moistened. Press the dough into a 6-inch disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours or overnight. 
4. I believe the term is “blind baking” since we are baking the crust until it’s golden brown before filling it with any of the fruit. 
5. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degree, poke holes with a fork in the dough to prevent air pockets, and then bake in the oven until golden brown, around 10-15 minutes. 

Strawberry Sauce

Ingredients
1 lb. strawberries, washed, hulled & sliced
¼ cup sugar-adjust more or less to your preference
½ lemon, juiced
a little lemon zest
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

What to do
1. Combine all of the ingredients in a small pot and place over medium heat. 
2. Bring to a boil and cook over medium-low heat for 15-20 minutes and serve hot!

Sabayon

Ingredients
6 egg yolks
2 tbls white wine
1/3 cup sugar, plus more to taste
Drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice 

What to do
1. Whisk to blend the yolks and sugar in the stainless-steel bowl. Rest the bowl in the saucepan over hot water. Whisk constantly for 4 to 5 minutes, until it has the consistency of lightly whipped cream. Clear the bottom of the bowl constantly with the whisk so that the eggs do not scramble, and adjust the heat as needed. Taste the sauce — the sabayon should never get so hot that you can’t stick your finger in it — and whisk wine and drops of lemon juice or more sugar if you want. When thick, foamy, and tripled in volume, remove from heat. It can be served hot as is, tepid, or cool.