The other morning Taylor and I awoke feeling rather blue. Not because the cats decided to use our bodies as early-morning spring boards; rather, we had blueberries on the brain. That’s the best kind of blue. So, in spite of the heat, we put on our grubby clothes, loaded up on bug spray, and headed out to the country for a good ol’ fashioned blueberry-pickin’ date.
The fields were swarming with bugs, but the bushes were hanging heavy with ripe berries. It didn’t take us long to pick two whole buckets of beautiful blues.
Actually, we probably picked two and a half buckets, if you count all the ‘snacks’ we had along the way (those are free, right?)
Yes, we were dripping by the end of it, but it was well worth the blood, sweat, and tears. Ok, just sweat. No tears were shed in the picking of these berries.
Once we got home I realized just how many blueberries we actually picked. It’s easy to go overboard when you’re meandering down long, overgrown aisles and each bush seems to have more berries than the next (or rather, the bushes on the other side of the aisle always appear to have more berries… the grass is always greener berries are always bluer, right?)
And since one can only have so much jam (don’t worry, I made plenty, and will be posting about that shortly!) I sought out some new recipes to ensure that not a single berry went to waste. In fact, you’ll probably be seeing nothing but blueberries here for the next, oh, week and a half? I’m sure you won’t mind.
Let’s talk about this tart.
The filling is basically a blueberry curd, thickened with both egg yolks and cornstarch. It was on the loose side, but packed with fresh berry flavor. True to it’s name, it is quite tart, both from the berries and the addition of lemon. Think of it like a lemon bar… but blue. It’s best served with a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream to offset some of the pucker. The filling itself is no-bake, so the berry flavor is bright and fresh, and the light almond flavor of the crust is a perfect counterpart. I’d personally like some more almond, perhaps a marzipan crumble or something would be a nice addition, but overall this tart was a perfect way to highlight our freshly-picked blueberries.
Recipe from Epicurious.
All images and text ©Lindsay Landis / Love & Olive OilLet us know what you think!
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