Strawberry fields

Strawberry jam tart with ricotta cream

What do strawberry tarts and camping have in question?  Nothing really. Except for the fact that I had to go Bear Grylly's style with 130, 17 year olds. In the wilderness. Sleeping in a tent on the ground. Carrying all our gear. Orienteering for our food.
All I could think about to be honest was my warm and soft pliable pillow (clothes bundles into a pillow sack does not cut it no matter what they say), curling up to my dog and feeling his warmth, eating hot chocolate fondue and sticky tarts loaded with sugar, wearing heels and clean clothes, hot water to shower in (endless)....and it continued.
Lucky for me some lovely teachers at work (who had intuition) had given me a necessary survival kit for my first 'camping experience.' This included a sleeping bag that dealt with -8 conditions (Thank god as it got to 1degrees) and a white snow bunny jacket with a furry hood, which I ended up sleeping in as well. Needless to say it wasn't exactly white when I returned it.
And so where does the Strawberry Tart come in you say? Well I used food to say how I felt..... which was damn appreciative and thankful for their words of wisdom and giving me much needed tools that I clearly did not have. And all in one pice too with no ticks or leeches....
So what better way to say Thanks than through a butter pastry, homemade sticky jam with a ricotta cream strawberry tart? Hopefully they'll like my gesture. Food always speaks from the heart.
Maybe you should lend me something and reap the yummy goodness.

  Cream                                                        Dough

250 ml thickened cream                       200g plain flour
50g icing sugar                                      30g almond meal
1 vanilla bean split/seeds scraped           55g icing sugar
1 orange zested                                     100g unsalted butter, chopped
400g fresh firm ricotta                               1 egg
1 punnet strawberries halved/hulled

Jam
500g strawberries, hulled
300g caster sugar
1 tbs lemon juice
1/2 granny smith apple peeled grated

To make dough, place all the dry ingredients and butter in a food processor and process to fine breadcrumbs. With motor running, add egg and process till it comes together.
Turn out dough onto a clean surface and shape into a flat rectangle. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30min.
For strawberry jam place all ingredients in a large saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and cook for 50min (looks like setting). Cool completely.
Preheat oven to 180C. Roll dough between 2 sheets of baking paper till 3mm thick, then use to line a pan. Trim edges. Freeze for 15min.
Line tart shell with baking paper and bake blind for 10min (fill with rice/beans). Remove paper and beans and cook for another further 10min or until pastry is dry and golden. Cool.
To make cream use an electric mixer to whisk cream to soft peaks. Gradually add in icing sugar, vanilla, orange zest and whisk to combine. Transfer to a bowl and set aside. Crumble ricotta into a mixer and beat until smooth. Add cream mixture and whisk for one minute or until smooth.
Spoon the cooled jam (1/2) into tart shell, top with the cream and refrigerate. Top with strawberries and drizzle over jam.

THANK YOU