My first step was to pick. Your’s may be to pick up a couple of pints at a farmer’s market or the grocery store.
This recipe involves three steps: The pastry, a gourmet crumble and the blueberries and cream filling.
For the pastry I elected to use a Pâte Brisée, which is a wonderful flaky pie dough that works well as a dough to line tart shells. Although there are many methods to make it either by hand, with a mixer or a food processor, I find the later is the easiest.
Ingredients for pastry dough
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 6 tablespoons cold water
- 1 cup butter
- 3 cups minus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Combine salt and flour in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times. Add the butter in cubes and pulse after each small batch. Add the water and mix only until the dough comes together. It is important not to over-mix. Scrape the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap, flatten and place in the refrigerator for at least a few hours or preferably overnight.
Roll out the dough, place into your tart pan, perforate the bottom of the dough with the tines of a fork and blind bake. Preheat the oven to 325 F and top the pastry with parchment and add rice or beans all the way to the edges. Bake with this faux filling for 15 minutes, the remove the rice or beans and return the shell to the oven for another 15 minutes until golden brown and evenly coloured. Remove from oven and cool completely before filling. Just before assembly, brush the tart shell with an egg wash (1 egg beaten with a tablespoon of water) and bake for 5 minutes.
Crumble ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1/3 cup turbinado sugar (sometimes called sugar in the raw)
- 1/2 cup cake flour
- 3/4 cup ground almonds or almond flour
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon Kirschwasser
Preheat oven to 325F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Cut the butter into pieces and place all the ingredients in a bowl and rub the mixture between your hands. Spread on the parchment-lined baking sheet and bake 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and crisp. Cool completely. Store left-overs in the freezer for future use on ice cream or muffins.
Ingredients for blueberry filling
- 2 1/4 cup blueberries
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 1/4 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1 1/4 teaspoons water
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/2 vanilla bean
- 2 plus 1 teaspoon egg yolks
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 1/4 heavy cream
In a saucepan, combine the blueberries and 1 teaspoon of the sugar and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low and boil for 2 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk together the lemon juice, water and cornstarch in a bowl and gradually stir into the berries and simmer 1 minute until thickened. If the juice is still watery and another 1/2 teaspoon of cornstarch in a tablespoon of the juice and stir in. Remove from heat when thickened.
Use a paring knife and split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape the seeds into a medium bowl. Add the egg yolk and remaining sugar and whisk together. Add the milk and cream and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the blueberries and take a moment to celebrate the colour.
Some assembly required
Preheat oven to 325 F.
Sprinkle about 6 tablespoons of the crumble in an even layer over the bottom of the pre-baked tart shell. Spread the blueberry filling on top. Place on a sheet pan and bake 30 to 40 minutes until just set. If you shake the pan gently, the middle will jiggle a bit under the surface until it cools, when it will firm up. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Sift on some icing sugar if you like. We served our’s with whipped cream.
naramata-blend 