DAY Recipe

DIRECTIONS

Coarsely mash strawberries, raspberries, and sugar in a bowl witha potato masher. Let berries stand, loosely covered, at room temperature, stirring occasionally, 1 hour.

Drain berry mixture in a fine sieve set over a bowl, pressing lightly on berries. Reserve crushed berries for another use.

For each serving, spoon 2 1/2 tablespoons syrup over 3/4 cup lightly packed shaved ice. Serve immediately.

DIRECTIONS

Make crust:
Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a buttered 8-inch square glass baking dish with 2 (18- by 6-inch) sheets of foil, overlapping them in opposite directions so that there is overhangon all 4 sides.

Pulse together flour, cornmeal, confectioners sugar, salt, and butterin a food processor until mixture resembles coarse meal. Press onto bottom of baking dish and 1 inch up sides. Bake in middle of oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Make filling while crust bakes:
Whisk together eggs, sugar, flour, and zests. Whisk in juices, milk, anda pinch of salt. Toss blueberries with jam in another bowl.

Whisk egg mixture and immediately pour into hot crust, then bake untiljust set, about 17 minutes. Gently spoon berries evenly over top and bake 2 minutes more. Transferbaking dish to a rack and cool.

Chill, covered, overnight (8 hours). Use foil to lift dessert out of dish,then cut into squares.

DIRECTIONS

Preheat broiler.

Arrange figs, cut sides up, in a large shallow baking pan. Sprinkle sugar evenly over fruit and broil 2 to3 inches from heat until most of sugar is melted and deep golden in places,3 to 5 minutes.

Immediately serve figs over ice cream, drizzled with vinegar.

DIRECTIONS

Roll out pastry with a floured rolling pin on a lightly floured surface intoa 15- by 12-inch rectangle (3/4 inch thick) and trim edges. Halve pastry lengthwise with a pastry wheel or large knife to form 2 (15- by 6-inch) strips. Cut each strip crosswise into7 equal rectangles (for a total of 14). Arrange rectangles in 1 layer on2 large baking sheets and chill20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

While pastry is chilling, trim and chop 4 figs and stir together with mascarpone, ginger, sugar, and vanilla. Chill filling, covered.

Cover pastry rectangles on 1 baking sheet with an inverted large metal cooling rack to lightly weight them, then bake in upper third of ovenuntil golden and cooked through,15 to 18 minutes. Remove rack carefully and transfer baked pastryto another rack to cool completely. Bake remaining rectangles, weightedwith rack (make sure it’s cooled),in same manner.

While pastry is baking, cut remaining figs lengthwise into1/4-inch-thick slices.

Spread filling over 7 pastry rectangles and top with half of sliced figs, overlapping them. Dust with confectioners sugar. Cover figs with remaining pastry rectangles and top with remaining figs, overlapping them. Dust with confectioners sugar.

DIRECTIONS

Bring 8 cups water to a boil in a2-quart saucepan and addtapioca, stirring constantly. Gently boil, stirring occasionally, until tapioca is almost completely translucent, 40 minutes to 1 1/2 hours, depending on size of tapioca.

Remove from heat and let tapioca stand, covered, until completely translucent, 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours, depending on size.

While tapioca is standing, bring sugar, a pinch of salt, and remaining1/4 cup water to a simmer in a small heavy saucepan, stirring until sugaris dissolved. Simmer syrup until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.

Scoop out 3/4 cup (total) of thick layer of coconut cream from tops of cans (reserving remainder for another use) and whisk into syrup until combined well. Chill syrup until cold, about 1 hour.

Add 3 cups cold water to translucent tapioca, then drain in a sieve. Transfer tapioca to a large bowl filled halfway with cold water, swirl, and then drain in sieve. (This removes excess starch.)

Spoon 3 tablespoons syrup into each of 4 glasses (there will be some left
over), then divide fruit and tapioca among them. Top with shaved ice.

Cooks’ notes:
• Small pearl tapioca may be substituted for large, but the cooking time must be reduced to about 5 minutes boiling time and 15 minutes standing time.

• For this recipe, we prefer one of the following brands of coconut milk because the thin liquid and the creamlike layer are distinctly separated: A Taste of Thai, Mount Tai, Thai Kitchen, or Ka-Me.

• Syrup can be made 3 days ahead and chilled, covered.

*Available at Asian markets and Uwajimaya (800-889-1928).