Strawberries Too

Nothing is real, and nothing to get hung about…

I spent the weekend in Nashville attending a bloggers conference. Nevertheless, I did find some time here and there to think about this month’s paper chef contest. I’ve been pigging out on strawberries and so this competition was particularly appealing.

Given the ingredients, the obvious options were a cheese cake or mousse or souffle. All good choices but obvious and certainly didn’t want to cook these delightful berries. I wanted their freshness to really shine.

The earlier recipe I posted here featured mascarpone as a topping and I liked the buttery flavor of the cheese with the strawberries. Ricotta could be a means of toning down the richness of the mascarpone without loosing its essence. Perhaps a mousse-like confection of berries and cheese? And maybe some Amaretto to create sort of an almond-flavored strawberry cheese.

It immediately occurred to me to make tuiles using almond flour to pull that ingredient in. The cookies would add some needed crispness to contrast the creamy cheese and they make a handsome presentation. But what about the white chocolate?

I finally decided to just melt the chocolate and drizzle it over the tuiles.

Strawberry Cheese

1 1/4 c chopped strawberries
2 tbsps sugar
3 tbsps Amaretto
8 ozs mascarpone cheese
1/4 c ricotta cheese
1/2 ea lemon — juiced
3 tbsps powdered sugar
***** Almond Tuile *****
1/4 c butter — softened
1/2 c confectioner’s sugar
2 ea egg whites
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
5 tbsps cake flour
2 ozs blanched almonds
1 tbsp orange zest
4 ozs white chocolate

Mix chopped strawberries with 2 tbsp sugar and Amaretto in a small bowl and macerate for 1 to 3 hours. Put mixture in a food processor and process to coarse puree.

Mix together mascarpone, ricotta, lemon juice, and powdered sugar. Mix in 1 cup of strawberry mixture. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Process remaining strawberry mixture until smooth and refrigerate.

Tuile
Cream butter and sugar together in a bowl. Beat in the egg whites, one at a time. Beat in the vanilla.

Process almonds until you have a fine flour being careful not to over-process. Add cake flour, almond flour, and orange zest and mix until just combined. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour.

Heat oven to 325F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and draw two or three circles six inches in diameter. Place a spoonful of batter in center of each circle and spread to fill circle. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until lightly browned around edges. Allow cookies to cool for about 30 second then drape each cookie over a small glass or can and shape to form a basket.

Melt chocolate and drizzle over tuiles. Spoon a mound of strawberry cheese into each basket and drizzle with strawberry coulis.

…Strawberry Fields forever.

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