A Week of Blueberries

I tend to like to write about the animals on the farmette and not what occupies the vast majority of my time come July: THE GARDEN.

The garden is not cute or furry or funny.  It does not melt my heart with its big brown eyes.  It is just a bitch.   It is either too rainy and cool or too hot and dry or too much of a pain in my ass with the squash beetles and the cabbage worms and the Japanese beetles.  I have turned into Carl Spackler and the cabbage moth is my gopher.

The one thing I do have in abundance right now, besides eggs, are blueberries.  In celebration of this wondrous summer berry I have decided to post a blueberry recipe every day this week.  Please excuse the photos.  I don't like anyone in the kitchen with me while I am cooking with the exception of my favorite NPR personalities and it is hard to cook and take photos at the same time.  Plus, my kitchen is a mess when I cook and I definitely don't clean as I go.  I am still trying to master the Martha Stewart illusion.

Day 1: Blueberry Tart

When I was 19, I went to Paris to visit my sister who was living and working there at the time.  I highly recommend sending your teenager to another country for a month or so.  I quickly realized that while I thought I was a worldly sophisticated college student, I was actually a hick with a wicked Boston accent.

Still to this day, ten years later, remember the first meal I ate in my favorite city.  My main course was a grilled whole fish which the waiter deboned for me right at the table. YUM!  I am pretty sure the only fish I had eaten up until that point had been dipped in batter and deep fried, so this was quite an adventure for me.   Dessert was equally amazing:  A beautiful little custard tart topped with fresh raspberries.  Sitting at our outdoor table, my first bite of the sweet, creamy, fruity tart was made all the more sublime due to an infusion of the sights and smells of Paris.  There were lots of cute boys there too.

I am not sure if I can conjure the same magic from my own blueberry tart, but there is something magical about cooking food you grow and the farmette looks and smells pretty great this time of year.

This is the perfect farmette recipe  because in addition to the blueberries, it requires eggs.

This is what you will need:

Crust:
1C all purpose flour
1C almond flour
2T powdered sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 egg
pinch of salt

Créme Pâtissiére:
1C granulated sugar
5 egg yolks
1C half and half
1C heavy cream
a squeeze of fresh lemon
1/2T vanilla extract or almond extract

Crust:
In electric mixer with paddle attachment, beat sugar and butter until combined.  Mix in egg.  Add flour and salt while mixer still running on low.

Turn dough out onto work surface and flatten into disk.  Press dough evenly into tart pan (no need to grease) and refrigerate for 1/2 hour.  Bake in 375 degree oven for  20 minutes or until slightly browned.

Créme Pâtissiére (adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking):

Beat egg yolks and sugar until mixture is pale yellow (about 2-3 minutes).

In heavy saucepan, heat half and half, cream, lemon and extract until almost boiling.  Ladle into yolk mixture and stir after each ladle full. 

Pour prepared Créme Pâtissiére into tart shell and bake in 325 degree oven for about 40 minutes or until center of tart is almost firm. (Remember to put cookie sheet or large pan under the tart pan because the liquid will ooze.  I made this mistake and had to open all the doors and windows to let out the smoke.)

Once tart is slightly cooled, top with fresh blueberries and dust with powdered sugar.

Since I had a little left over créme, I decided to make a blueberry custard pie as well.  This time I used a saltine cracker crust I had heard about on...you guessed it, NPR.  It tasted just as good as the tart crust, but not quite as elegantly French.  Here is the recipe for that crust:

Pulse 1 and 1/2 sleeves of saltine crackers in food processor with a stick of butter and 2T sugar.  Press into pie pan and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.  Add créme Pâtissiére and bake just as you would the tart.

Enjoy!