Strawberry time is special where I live. It’s a short season but, for two or three weeks, the fresh, local fruit abounds – at supermarkets, roadside stands and even pick-your-own plots. And I am particu-larly blessed…
I live ‘on the outskirts’ of my city – and there’s a strawberry ‘pick’ right across the main drag where I turn to head downtown.
Tremendously popular
The opening of the berry pick, in late June, causes locals some traffic headaches. It’s a tremendously popular day trip ‘destination’ for folks who live in more-crowded circum-stances, closer in-town. The weekends are particularly annoying, with seemingly un-broken streams of vehicles turning in to and exiting the parking lot.
But we put up with it. As economists love to say, the benefits far outweigh the costs.
Prices still right
The prices at the U-Pick plots are still pretty attractive compared to those at supermark-ets or even roadside stands. And competit-ion is still a major factor in the Ottawa berry market. There are at least 4 major growers, each with multiple plots, operating every summer within easy drive of ‘the city’.
If you want to make a supply of strawberry jam to last the coming winter, ‘the season’ is definitely the time to strike.
Some gear required
I don’t preserve as much fruit as I used to, But I’ve inherited my mom’s preserving kettle and Mason jar collection. So I’m ready for any project I feel up to tackling.
But what I love most is fresh strawberry pies and tarts. And they’re so easy!
You probably have everything you need – except the strawberries – in your pantry already. Make up a batch of short crust pie dough that would do one two-crust (top and bottom) pie. You’re only going to use about 2/3 to 3/4 of that for the pie. I’ll explain what the rest is for later.
Here we go…
Wash, hull and halve your berries, and set them aside. In a large saucepan, cook up two cups water and one cup white sugar with just a pinch or two of nutmeg and/or cloves, to taste. You don’t want to taste the spices themselves; just the amazing difference they make to the flavour!
When the sugar is completely dissolved and the syrup is clear, add a tablespoon of corn starch dis-solved in 1/3 cup of cold water and stir until the mixture is thickened and clear again. Let the thick-ened syrup cool to room temp. Meanwhile, line a suitable pie plate with pastry. You can cut strips from the remainder of the pastry dough to do a classic lattice top for your pie, if you wish. That should still leave you enough to make two or three ‘tarts’ as well.
Final assembly
Add the drained (preferably, quite dry) berries to the syrup, mix well – but oh, so gently – to combine, and pour about 1/3 of the sticky mixture into the prepared crust. If it mounds up a bit, all the better. In berry pie making, ‘more is more’! Now, construct the top crust, if you’re having one.
Then roll out the remaining dough and cut into smallish circles about 4 in. / 10 cm in diameter. Drop a spoonful or 2 of the remaining filling in the centre of each circle, then fold in the edges to form a sort of rolled crust, leaving the tops of each tart open. Place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
Bake in a pre-heated oven for 15 minutes at 400 F to set the crusts, then continue at 350 F until the crusts are a nice golden brown, and the edges are crispy (about 15 to 20 minutes more).
Voilà!
Your finished pie should look just like the one in the photo, above!
My take
Serve with plain vanilla ice cream (as shown above) or whipped cream. Or both.
What the heck – it’s a celebration!
~ Maggie J.