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Testa’s Fresh Strawberry Pie
The sweetest part of our Valentine’s Day dinner — a fresh strawberry pie! This is my attempt at recreating a dessert from my childhood: the iconic Testa’s Restaurant in Palm Beach was famous for this glorious combination of fresh and cooked strawberries, generously poured into a shatteringly crisp and buttery crust and topped with a dollop of softly whipped cream, until they closed their doors in 2017 after nearly a century in business.
It was something I always looked forward to having when we were in town, and I couldn’t think of a more delightfully red and delicious way to end our Valentine’s feast! Anyone who remembers Testa’s Strawberry Pie, let me know how we did!
Testa’s Fresh Strawberry Pie
Ingredients
Pie Crust:
1 1/4 cup AP flour
1-2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 tbsp of butter, frozen
5-6 tablespoons cold water, add a tablespoon at a time
Filling:
5-4 cups hulled strawberries
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon corn starch
1/2 stick unsalted butter, cubed and left in refrigerator until ready to use
Whipped Cream:
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar (more if desired)
1 vanilla bean, scraped
Pinch of salt
Instructions
•Mix together the flour, sugar, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Grate in your ice cold butter and work quickly using your finger tips to pinch the butter tendrils into the flour and evenly distribute until only pea sized piece remain. A good technique is to push and roll little pinches of flour and butter across your thumbs to quickly distribute thin layers that will create a lovely, crispy result. You can also use a pastry cutter instead if preferred.
•Add ice water tablespoon by tablespoon, mixing a few times between each. How much water will depending on your location, temperature, and humidity of your home, etc. What you are ultimately looking for is a dough that is not wet, but when you pinch a small clump of dough together, it should hold its form. There should be irregular scattering of butter pieces throughout, not larger than pea sized.
•Turn all the dough out onto a flat and smooth surface, marble ideal and gather together into a disc or square. Use a bench scraper to cut the dough in half and place one half on top of their other. Press out into a flat disc or square again and repeat. This will help given even more additional crispy layers. Reform dough into a 2” tall disc or square and wrap well in wax or parchment paper. Place in the refrigerator to cool and hydrate, 1 hour or overnight.
•When ready to roll your crust, flour your surface and use a rolling pin to roll into an even 1/4” thick disc. I like to flip the dough once or twice to make sure nothing is sticking and that we have flour on both sides of the dough evenly. Work to pull the dough out from the center towards the edges in all directions.
•Using a glass pie dish, lift your dough into the form and gently lay it inside, making sure there are no air pockets and that the dough fits snuggly along the inner edge of the pie dish. Trim any overhang that is more than 2”. Tuck all additional overhang along the outside into the pie dish and use pointer and thumb of one hand and the pointer of the other hand to form a neatly fluted edge. Place piecrust into the freezer for 15-30 minutes to chill. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 375F.
•When ready to bake, line piecrust with parchment paper and use pie weights or dry beans to fill in the pie and help hold its form during the blind bake. Bake 25-30 minutes until crust is mostly golden and crisping.
•After 25-30 minutes, remove the pie from the oven and remove pie weights — allow these to cool before storing for future use. Use a paring knife or fork to gently poke and score the bottom of the crust, particularly any areas that are puffing up. You can cover the edge of the crust with aluminum foil as needed to avoid burning. Return pie crust to the oven another 10-15 minutes without pie weights so the bottom can get nicely golden brown and crisp and the crust can cook through. Remove from the oven and cool in pan 10 minutes before removing crust from its form and allowing it to cool completely on a baking rack.
•Add 2 cups of strawberries and 1 cup of water to a sauce pan and bring to a simmer, allow to cook 5-7 minutes. Once strawberries have begun to soften, use forks or a potato masher to break them up to desired consistency. Add sugar and corn starch to a small bowl and mix to combine, then add both to the cooking strawberries in the pot. Mix well and allow to simmer another 3-5 minutes until sauce is nicely thickened. Add cubed butter to the pot, lower heat to a gentle simmer, and allow to cook another 20-25 minutes until richly thick and glossy, stirring intermittently to ensure nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pan.
•Meanwhile, make your whipped cream by adding heavy whipping cream to a medium bowl and whisking or beating on high until soft peaks form. Sift in your powdered sugar and add vanilla bean scrapings and a tiny pinch of salt, then continue whisking just until incorporated. Set aside or cover with plastic wrap and keep in refrigerator until ready to use.
•Arrange remaining 2 cups of strawberries in the cooled pie crust. I like to have them all standing up and crowded into any open gaps. Pour cooked strawberry mixture all over top to coat every berry and fill in any remaining space in the pie. Allow to cool 10 minutes and then serve immediately for the most epically crisp, shattering crust and the wonderful juxtaposition of whole and cooked strawberries, all dolloped with a cloud of whipped cream on top. Perfection.
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