Apple-Jam Tart (蘋果與果醬塔)

The recipe is inspired by David Lebovitz's Easy Jam Tart , and as he mentioned, his recipe is originally adapted from a crostata recipe from the blog Wednesday Chef. Crostata is an Italian dessert tart in a pie form. The filling is traditionally made with cherry, apricot, peaches, or berry jam. David basically added some cornmeal to the dough (which I loved), instead of just using all-purpose flour, to make the dough crispy. Additionally, he changed how the dough is arranged on the top, which creates this really beautiful flowery pattern. (Genius idea!!) Here, I kept both of David's ideas and changed a lot of other things to make it even healthier, such as mixing in some whole wheat pastry flour, using much less butter and jam, and adding the apples and almonds...etc.

(閱讀中文請看續文)

Strawberry-Vanilla Jam

For strawberry lovers (like me), during the months of June and July you can never get enough strawberries. If you're in Quebec, luckily, you're in the right place at the right time! There's an enchanting island right next to Quebec City called Île d'Orléans. The island has a reputation for its local produce and is known as the "Garden of Quebec" ("Jardin de Québec"). At this time of the year, one of their most well-known products is strawberries. I have never seen as many strawberries anywhere else as I have here!  

Inheriting the traditional French culture, people here are big into canning. Plus, during the winter, which is so long and cold, there really isn't much local produce grown. If you want to eat seasonally and locally, summer is the best time to take advantage of all the varieties of fruits and vegetables and to preserve them.