The Perfect Strawberry Tart

This past Sunday, we took Levi to Fillmore, CA., to spend the afternoon with "A Day out with Thomas". Wasn't really what I had in mind for a leisurely Sunday afternoon, however with Levi being the third, he gets dragged to everyone's ball game, violin concert, gymnastics meet, etc!  It was time we did something just for Levi.  He talked about this event for weeks and actually, hasn't stopped talking about it since.  He loved his day.

Along the way, I noticed lots and lots of fresh fruit stands.  After all, the road to Fillmore is "farm country".  I have lived here my whole life, I had never been to Fillmore.  Just goes to show you how much there is to see and how simple little day trips, such as this one, brought our little family a little closer.

When our day was over and we were headed back to the highway, I knew I wanted to stop at a few of these little produce stands.  I knew better than to prep the boys of my intentions.  After spending several hours surrounded by lots of screaming 2-5 year old boys, I wasn't interested in hearing my three boys complain and whine.  So, I kept my plan to myself. 

Although I was only entitled to stop at one produce stand, I stocked up on lots of goodies;  the boys begged for beef jerky and BBQ almonds and I grabbed lots of strawberries and other assorted fruits.

With the amount of strawberries that I picked up, we were almost guaranteed that they would spoil before we ate them all.  I took out a few of my books and searched for an old fashioned strawberry pie.  With my vast library of cookbooks, I could not find a decent strawberry pie recipe.  I defaulted to the Internet.  Saveur - nothing!  Epicurious - nothing!  However, good old "Martha" had just what I was looking for.  A

Strawberry Tart.  

I wanted something fairly simple as this was kind of an afterthought.  It was 2:15 p.m. when I decided I wanted to to this and I had to pick up the kids from school at 2:45.  I quickly, made the crust and then washed and cut all the strawberries (I had just the right amount).  I was out the door by 2:40 and my crust was chilling in the fridge and my strawberries were soaking and coated in sugar.

My timing could not have been more perfect.  After feeding the kids and cleaning out their lunch boxes, I was ready to assemble the pie.  I don't do a lot of pies. I guess I have never been interested.  Well, today, I became a convert.  Be on the look out for lots and lots of pies!

There wasn't a morsel left on anyones plate!