Oxnard Strawberry Festival

Last Sunday we all drove up to Oxnard, CA (about an hour north of Los Angeles) to help support PabloSurf.com at the annual Strawberry Festival. It's massive is all I can say...although it made me happy so many people (rumor has it that 65,000 people attended) came to celebrate one of my favorite succulent fruits! They have everything from Strawberry Pizza to Strawberry Nachos and in all seriousness, I've never had such sweet strawberries in my life! These strawberries, as you can see, are very photogenic but they taste even better. Such sweet memories. Anyway, the festival also has food booths from all over town, a major dilemma for us because we can't ever decide where or what to eat. There's BBQ smoke in the air, people munching on corn, candied almonds, thai food and strawberries everywhere. We finally settled on BBQ from a local shop in Ventura, one of our favorites, CJ's BBQ. These guys are from Wharton, Texas so we know they know what they're doing. Good stuff!

CJ's BBQ
480 S. Victoria Ave, Oxnard
Phone: 805-815-3024

http://www.strawberry-fest.org/

Tart Au Chevre Avec Des Poires

Otherwise know as a Goat Cheese Tart with Pears. The other week while browsing on Amazon.com I spontaneously purchased (and perhaps overpaid although I think this is rather hard find) cookbook, The American Boulangerie: French Pastries and Breads for the Home Kitchen by Pascal Rigo. So far I've made Madeleines, which came out beautifully (I forgot to take a pictures) and last week I tried a goat chese tart. It was actually quite simple. The tart is similar to a cheesecake, but lighter in texture as it uses a mixture of goat cheese and cream chesse. The recipe also calls for huckleberries (which I couldn't find) so I used fresh cranberries instead and sprinkled some sugar on them to tone down the tartness.

4 oz firmly packed goat cheese, at room temperature
6 oz. firmly packed cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 C + 4 t. sugar
2 t. heavy whipping cream
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1/2 t. freshly grated orange zest (I used lemon)
1 extra large egg, separated
9-inch Pate Sucree tart shell
1 Anjou pear, quartered, cored and thinly sliced
1/4 C fresh huckleberries

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Combine goat cheese and cream cheese on medium speed until free of lumps. Add 1/4 C. sugar and beat until combined. Reduce the speed to low and add the heavy cream, vanilla and orange zest. Increase to medium speed and continue to mix for 1 minute, scraping down the sides. Add the egg yolk and beat until completely incorporated. Set aside.

2. In a clean bowl, whip the egg white until foamy. Incrase speed to high and gradually add the 4 t. sugar. Continue to whip to stiff peaks (firm and shiny). Gently fold the whipped egg white into the cheese mixture. Transfer the cheese mixture into the tart shell. Evenly space the pear slices around the edge of the tart and decorate with huckleberries.

3. Bake for 25 mintues or until the surface looks dry and filling is slightly puffed.