I’m at it again with the balsamic roasted fruit. First grapes…now strawberries. What can I say? Once you pop, you can’t stop. Name that original slogan.
You may recall…as soon as summertime hit, we fired up the grill and tried out grilled fruit. We ended up liking all the fruit grilled, except for the strawberries. Personally, we didn’t think that grilling them added anything; it just took away the crispness of the fresh fruit. Because of this, I was definitely worried that we wouldn’t like roasted strawberries either.
Wrong! Oh.em.gee were these tarts delicious. I literally popped and couldn’t stop.
Oven roasting strawberries in balsamic vinegar completely intensified the sweetness. If you’ve never tried then you’ve got to. And quick – before summer’s over! The sweet berries combined with a flaky crust and creamy ricotta layer was a perfect summer treat.
Here’s what you’ll need. I forgot an egg :-/
Toss strawberries in sugar and balsamic. Then roast
We cut the edges off our puff pastry to form a wall on each pastry. Parbake for 10 minutes
Then we brushed lightly with egg wash
Spread a layer of ricotta filling. Now bake another 10 minutes!
Once the ricotta is set and the puff pastry is golden top with the balsamic roasted berries
We topped with a light sprinkling of confectioners’ sugar too 🙂
- 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
- 1 egg white, whisked with 1 tablespoon water
- 2 cups strawberries, rinsed, hulled and sliced
- ½ tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- ½ cup ricotta cheese
- zest of 1 lemon
- scant pinch of salt
- 3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- In a medium bowl, gently toss sliced strawberries together with sugar and balsamic vinegar. Spread in an even layer on a baking sheet and roast for 10-12 minutes. You’ll know they’re done because the berries will be slightly shriveled and will have released their juices. Remove strawberries from oven and set aside.
- Turn the oven temperature down to 350 degrees F. Cut one puff pastry sheet into thirds (more or less depending on the size tart you want). Trim all 4 edges off each of the 3 rectangles. Firmly press the trimmed pieces onto the sides of the tart to form a puff pastry wall. This will help keep the filling and berries inside. Bake for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix together ricotta cheese, salt, lemon zest and confectioners’ sugar. Set aside.
- Remove tarts from the oven and brush lightly with egg wash. Use a small spatula to spread a layer of the ricotta filling inside the walls of the tart. A ricotta layer approx ½ an inch thick should be good. Bake another 10-12 minutes, until pastry is crisp and golden and ricotta has set.
- Spoon the balsamic roasted strawberries inside the walls of the puff pastry tarts, on top of the ricotta filling. If you are not serving immediately, wait to spoon the berries on top as their juices will turn the tart soggy if left to sit.
- We did not press the pastry edges firmly enough into the sides of the tarts before baking so a couple of our ‘walls’ fell. Still tasted delicious. 🙂
