Quiz: What do you make when a friend invites you for dinner the same night, asks you to bring dessert, and you are hung-over from the night before and don't want to go to the grocery store?
This is another one for WWJD? I took stock of what I had in the kitchen that was kind of dessertish and found a 1/2 a bag of frozen strawberries (make that a 1/3rd of a bag and a lot of freezer burn, two apples past their prime, some frozen puff pastry and a lemon. Hmmm..do I have enough for a tart? Lets hope! I then cooked the strawberries on the stove with water and sugar and then added the apples. When tender, I suddenly remembered that I had a can of yellow papaya in the cupboard that I got at Reny's hoping that I could use it in some Thai dish or some such "exotic" dish involving jasmine rice (these are the dreams I have while surfing the cans in Reny's food aisle....beware, always check the born on date!) I digress.....So I added the papaya and lemon zest and juice from one lemon and let the whole thing boil. My last trick while the concoction was still bubbling away was to add about a tablespoon of cornstarch as a thickener. Took the pot off the heat and put it in the fridge to cool (make sure you have either tempered surfaces or place the mixture in a cool bowl first)
Quick thawed the puff pastry in the wave and then rolled out and draped it over the sides of a buttered cast iron skillet (a cook's best friend ). I then buttered and sugared the bottom of the puff pastry and added the fruit mixture. Fold over corners of puff pastry making sure to leave a "rustic" opening so that your meal mates can oooo and ahhh over what you made. Brush tops with melted butter and then sprinkle sugar over the butter.

Cook in a preheated 375 degree oven for about 40 minutes or until golden.

This got total raves. One person looked at me guiltily as she was scooping more onto her plate and said "I never have seconds"

Enjoy,
Seth