Since I was a child, and into my adult years, I have always enjoyed picking blueberries. Each cluster has berries ranging from ripe to not ready yet, and you must carefully pick the ripe, leaving the others to be picked later. As a young girl, I would pick blueberries with my grandmother in her backyard where she had about eight large bushes covered in cheesecloth. I always wanted to grab all the berries, but she taught me how to pick the ripest berries, and I would devour them until nearly ill.
These tarts are a summer all-star at Ella’s, and customers ask for them as early as May. You can mix up the berries you use as the seasons change. I use frozen wild for the base, as they have a jammy, bold sweetness essential to these beauties.
Ingredients
- 3 cups frozen wild berries
- 1½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 ounces (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter
- 1½ tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 2 quarts fresh berries
- 1 pound (4 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 4¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½–¾ cup cold water
- 1 tablespoon sea salt
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 egg for wash
Preparation
Blueberry Filling:
Cook frozen berries with sugar, butter, cornstarch and lemon juice until thick in a heavy-bottom sauce pot, stirring frequently, until mixture bubbles and thickens.
Fold in 2 quarts fresh berries. Set aside.
In a food processor, cut butter into flour until pea-sized. Add water (on pulse) until dough almost comes together. Knead by hand until it just comes together in a round disk. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Let rest for 2 hours or overnight in refrigerator. (This could be made into 1 large tart, or cut into 4–6 smaller tarts.)
To assemble tarts, mix 1 egg yolk with 1 tablespoon water to create egg wash.
For individual tarts, lightly roll out tart dough to roughly the size of your hand, brush with egg wash and put large spoonful of berry mixture into the center.
Rustically fold to form separate little tarts and brush the edges with egg wash. Place on baking sheet lined with parchment.
Bake in preheated 425°F oven for 20 minutes for small tarts. If making a large tart, bake at 425°F for 15 minutes and reduce heat to 350°F and cook until tart mixture starts to bubble close to center.
About this recipe
Excerpted with permission from Butter, Love & Cream by Jeanie Roland.
WINE PAIRING: Domaine Rolet Cremant du Jura—The flaky crust of this delicious blueberry tart is perfect for bubbles! One of our new favorite sparkling wines is the Domaine Rolet Cremant du Jura. Jura is a very small area in France where most of the wine is kept for the locals, so it’s exciting to have this in our collection here in Rhode Island. This is mostly Chardonnay with small additions of Savagnin, Poulsard and Pinot Noir. For half the price of a true Champagne, this sparkler is super impressive—dry and delicate with flavors of ripe pears, lemon meringue and almonds.
—Kate Miceli, Bottles Fine Wine, Providence
