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STEPS
INGREDIENTS
Preheat the oven 375 degrees, with the rack in the middle. Blend your flour, sugar, butter, and salt in a bowl with a pastry blender, or
do as I do and mix it together with a couple of pulses of a food processor. Blend it until you have a mealy mix. Set it aside
In a small bowl mix together the egg yolk, vanilla, lemon juice and ice water. Drizzle this mixture over the flour mixture and pulse it until you have dough.
Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for about 5 times. Shape it into a 5 inch disc and put it in the center of your tart pan.
Cover it with plastic wrap, and then using your fingers, push and spread the dough around the bottom and sides of the pan until they're covered.
Take a fork and prick the dough all over with a fork through the plastic wrap, then stick the whole thing in the freezer to firm up for 10 minutes.
Take the tart shell out, peel off the plastic wrap and line the tart shell with aluminum foil. Fill it with pie weights or beans.
Bake the tart until the sides are set and the edges are pale golden. This takes about 20 minutes.
Carefully take the foil and pie weights out of the tart and pop it back into the oven until it's a deep golden color, another 20 minutes more.
Cool the tart in the pan for about 45 minutes and remove the ring.
Stir the strawberries together in a bowl with the granulated sugar and let it sit for about 30 minutes, then strain the juice out of the berries. Place the juice in a small pot and set it aside.
Whisk the ricotta together with the 1/3 cup powdered sugar...
...lemon zest...
...lemon juice...
...vanilla and a pinch of salt.
Beat everything together until it's nice and stiff.
Spread the ricotta mixture into the baked, cooled tart shell...
...and spread it around. Fill the tart shell up.
Meanwhile back at the strawberries.... Add 1/2 cup of Strawberry balsamic vinegar to the juice fro the macerated berries.
Pour it in and stir it around. Bring this mixture to a boil then turn it down to a simmer and simmer away until it's reduced. This takes about 15 minutes or so
. Stir this every now and then so nothing burns. The syrup is done when it's thickened.
Arrange the sliced berries on top of the ricotta cheese.
You want a nice pile in the center.
When you've got them where you want them, drizzle the thickened balsamic glaze over the berries.
And serve it up! for thorough pictures of how to make crust see my other tart guides, for making your own ricotta I have a guide for that too!
