Eccomi! After an unprecedented three month hiatus (the longest break I’ve ever taken since starting P&B) I’m ready to make my glorious return to what I love most: cooking, baking, and writing. While I’d like to say I took this time to recharge my batteries and come back refreshed and full of new recipe ideas, my day job — you know, that thing that allows me to pay the bills — is to blame. Ahead of a pretty high-stakes, highly attended, last-minute confirmed event, my workload spiked to new, never before seen heights, gobbling up my time, patience, and sanity the past three months. The hours I would have normally spent cooking with Springtime gems like asparagus, peas, and my beloved artichokes were instead spent in front of the computer far past 5:00, tackling emails that multiplied at an alarming speed, and tending to countless invitation letters, travel itineraries, and excel tables, among other things. My stress levels have been high, my energy low, and I seem to now jump at the sound of a call on Microsoft Teams (what could they possibly want now?!) Adulting is hard.

The upside? I was able to travel to Seoul for the aforementioned event, which was pretty exciting given that I had never been to Asia before, and South Korea (the home of Squid Game, Parasite, and Pachinko!) had been on my bucket list for a while As far as work trips go, it wasn’t half bad, and though my workload didn’t exactly decrease during my two week stay, I did get to see a bit of the city, spend time with friends, and of course: eat, quite spectacularly. In Seoul I feasted on everything from crunchy Korean-style fried chicken to crisp leek pancakes, not to mention cozy rice noodle and chicken soup, everything-but-the-kitchen sink bibimbap, and sumptious beef bulgogi. I fell in love with Korean barbecue, or pork/beef cooked on a grill at the table’s center, served with lettuce leaves for wrapping, steamed rice, and fiery kimchi. My opinion on beer — not for me, generally — was also changed in Seoul, where I discovered that I’m partial to Korean beer (which is on the lighter side). I also stumbled upon a little bakery churning out some of the best croissants I’ve ever had — not at all Korean, I know, but memorable none the less — loaded up on Korean snacks at the local 7/11, got to sample local street food, and even took a few sips of soju, Korea’s form of sake. My personal favorite, though? Dumplings called mandu, shaped like oversized tortelloni and stuffed with everything from mushrooms to cabbage to pork (no surprises there: it’s distant cousins with my first love, Pasta). Photos below, in all their glory.

So! Now that you know what I’ve been up to, let’s get to the second part of the title, shall we? Back to the recipes with this Sbriciolata (sbree-cho-lah-ta!)

A little Italian 101: sbriciolata comes from the verb sbriciolare, or to crumble, referring to the pastry, which is conveniently crumbled into the pan rather than rolled out (as I write this, it occurs to me that this is a sort of fruit crumble/tart cross, perhaps the most beautiful mash-up since the cheesecake brownie). You’ll find sbriciolata with chocolate chip ricotta filling, slathered with jam, or even filled with Nutella, but this recipe makes for perhaps the best one I’ve had yet. This sbriciolata highlights the season’s strawberries, which are cooked with a touch of sugar and lemon until jammy, and then slathered with a luxurious pastry cream. The resulting confection is a mix of tart and sweet, buttery and creamy, with a luxurious filling reminiscent of strawberries + cream, all tucked into a crisp pastry crust. In short: if there was any dessert to celebrate the end of a tough few months at work and a return to what I love to do most, this is it.

A couple of notes: Blackberries, raspberries, or cherries would also work here in place of the strawberries. You can also use a pie pan here or even a round cake pan if you don’t have a tart pan, just make sure that it is the right size. You will have a bit of leftover pastry; I used this to make two mini jam tarts using mini tart pans and the raspberry jam in my fridge, but a muffin tin would work well too. Depending on your strawberries, you may or may not have to use a bit of cornstarch to thicken the mixture. Larger strawberries are likely to contain more water, and therefore cornstarch may be needed. Finally, I developed this recipe using grams, not the usual cups/tablespoons, so if you have a scale, do use that! Otherwise I have provided cups/tablespoon measurements below.

Looking for other pie and tart recipes? Click here.
Looking for other strawberry-centric recipes? Click here.

SBRICIOLATE CREMA E FRAGOLE

Serves 8-10.
Ingredients for the pastry:
375 grams (about 2 3/4 cups) flour
150 grams (about 11 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
4 grams (1 heaping teaspoon) baking powder
1 pinch of salt
A few grates of lemon zest
225 grams (about 1 3/4 cups) powdered sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon milk

Ingredients for the strawberries:
350 grams (about 3/4 pound) strawberries
2 tablespoons sugar
Zest of one lemon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon cornstarch (if needed — see notes)

Ingredients for the pastry cream:
250 grams (1 cup) whole milk
2 eggs
30 grams (2 tablespoons) flour
80 grams (1/4 cup) sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 (24 cm, or 10 inch diameter) tart pan
Powdered sugar, for serving (optional)

Directions:
1.) Start with your pastry! Using a food processor, pulse together the flour, salt, baking powder, lemon zest, and butter until it becomes sandy. Note that you can also do this by hand if you do not have a food processor; whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and lemon zest, and then rub the butter in with your fingertips until sandy. Pour this mixture into a bowl, and then add the powdered sugar, mixing with a wooden spoon. Beat the egg together with 1 tablespoon of milk. Make a well in the middle of this resulting dough mixture and pour in the beaten egg/milk. Mix everything well (again with your hands) until the wet ingredients are incorporated into the dough, squeezing the dough together to bring all ingredients in. Be careful not to overmix it. Wrap your pastry in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for at least an hour. Note that you can also make this the day before and let it hang out in the fridge.

2.) On to the fragole! Wash and hull the berries, then quarter them (or cut them even smaller if you’re dealing with larger berries). Place them in a shallow pan with the sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Cook the berries over medium-low heat until soft and juicy and slightly thickened, about 15 minutes, adding a teaspoon of cornstarch if needed (I did). Set aside the berries to cool.

3.) While your berries are cooking, get started on your pastry cream. Whisk together the eggs, flour, and sugar in a large bowl. Heat the milk in a saucepan until steaming, then ladle it into the egg mixture a little at a time, whisking constantly. Once the milk is incorporated, pour the egg/milk mixture back in to the saucepan, and whisk over medium-low heat until thickened, about 8 minutes. Set aside and let cool. Whisk in the vanilla extract.

4.) Time to put it all together! Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C (350 degrees F). Butter a tart 24-cm/10 inch tart pan. Take some of your pastry mixture and press it in the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Don’t overdo it here — put a layer erring on the thinner side, so the pastry doesn’t overwhelm the filling and cooks throughout.

5.) Next, pour the strawberry mixture over the crust, and dollop it with cooled the pastry cream, spreading it as much as you can over the berries to cover them. Crumble more of the pastry mixture over the strawberry/cream mixture to cover the filling completely (you will have some pastry leftover, about 1/4 of the total — see my notes above).

6.) Bake the tart for 30-35 minutes, until the pastry is golden and the berries are bubbling. Let cool completely and then dust with powdered sugar. Slice and eat with gusto.