STRAWBERRY TART'S A WINNER FOR FOURTH: [CITY Edition]

Allene White lives in Blue Hill Falls, Maine 04615. Her fax number is [phone] e-mail address is [e-mail]

Since the Fourth of July is right around the corner, we'll relax the 'quick and easy' rule just in case you'd like to make a special dessert. If the rest of the meal is barbecue, you won't mind turning out something impressive, something with "the culinary impact of the rose window of Chartres." (Does that lift you out of your chair with recipe in hand, or out the door to visit your travel agent?)

I'm thinking, of course, of a strawberry tart. There's a small but important difference between pies and tarts. Pies are pastry- lined with a simple piecrust recipe; tarts have a butter cookie kind of crust, thin and delicate.

A strawberry pie is just strawberries, often cut up and held together with one of the popular thickeners. (Clearjel, a modified cornstarch is one of the favorites -- but SureJell for Lower Sugar Recipes, a pectin, can be used with success.) A pie can be put together quickly but a strawberry tart is a three-step procedure: you will first do the sweet tart pastry and bake it; the next day you mix the pastry cream, cover and keep it refrigerated. On day three you will prepare the strawberries, mix the pastry cream and whipped cream together and decorate the top. The only thing left is to...