Strawberry & Cream Cake

Contrary to popular belief, I often shy away from dishes that use an immense amount of butter, sugar, or eggs, but this last weekend our friend was in town staying with us, so I justified using an enormous number of egg yolks (see below) by saying to myself that I would really only indulge in a fraction of them as our guest would be eating most of the cake . . . . He had one slice, and then had to hurry back to LA. Needless to say, I have since consumed a disgusting amount of cake, and not regretted any of it.

I love strawberries, but I am a bit of a strawberry snob, and love the farmer's market strawberries that make it up here for about two weeks, which come from Camarillo and are small and intensely strawberry-tasting . . . mmm. Since strawberry season is here, I am eating them in all different forms, as often as possible (plain by the box, with a sauce of sour cream and brown sugar, shortcakes and now this cake). I found this recipe from an old Gourmet magazine, but I wasn't in the mood for the spicy cardamom taste so I tweaked it a bit and made mine a little more lemony instead. I would say it was good and goes down easy, but, in all honesty, I could have skipped the cake and been perfectly content eating a bowl of the cream filling with strawberries.

Savory Spring Tart

I get really into my hearty winter food when the season is upon us but nothing beats Spring/Summer produce. It is my absolute favorite - salads with fresh tomatoes, grilling, english peas, rhubarb - I love it all. I was racking my brain trying to figure out how to use all of the spring ingredients that I bought with abandon. I decided to make a savory tart and just throw everything in and surround it with some egg and cheese - what's not to love?

My recipe was inspired by this tart from Aran on Cannelle et Vanille - I of course made it slightly less healthy and added in some gluten. Please find the 'best-ever' pie crust recipe below.