Der kuchen ist fertig

I guess it is a continental trait, but Werner is especially partial to fruity desserts. I found the recipe for this blueberry cream tart in a recent column by Lucy Waverman for the Globe and Mail, and it looked like something he'd really appreciate.



There were numerous substitutions for this first attempt. For one, rather than make the pastry called for in the recipe, I used homemade pastry I had earlier frozen. (I'm tired and learning to cut corners.) I didn't have a lime, so I used bottle lime juice. (Oh, the shame!) And since I had neither blueberry nor pomegranate juice, I used plain old OJ. (I figure it will add to the citrusy flavour.)

The pastry, despite being docked and then blind baked while weighted, puffed up, so there wasn't quite as much space for the cream filling and blueberry topping as I would have hoped. Oh, dear. Whatever shall I do with the leftovers?


The recipe: Blueberries and Cream Tart
Source: Lucy Waverman, published in The Globe and Mail Style section, Saturday, September 2, 2006, page L9.
Note: I have reorganised the recipe a little, so the instructions for each component follow the respective ingredient list.

Blueberries and cream are a fabulous combination. For the pastry, use unsalted butter if organic or trans-fat free shortening is not available.

Pastry:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup unsalted butter, cubed
2 tablespoons organic shortening, cut in pieces
3 tablespoons cold water
1½ teaspoons white vinegar or lemon juice

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Sift together flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter and shortening until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.

Combine water and vinegar or lemon juice in a separate bowl. Add enough of the liquid to gather pastry into a ball (you may need more or less depending on the humidity) and knead together gently.

Roll out pastry to fit into a 9-inch fluted tart tin. Place pastry in tin, and line with parchment paper or foil and fill with pie weights or beans to the top. Bake for 15 minutes, remove paper and weights and bake for 8 minutes longer or until pastry is dry and pale gold. Set aside.

Filling:
4 cups blueberries
1/3cup blueberry or pomegranate juice
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon grated lime rind
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon lime juice

Combine 2 cups blueberries with ¼ cup blueberry juice, sugar and 1 teaspoon lime rind in a medium pot. Combine remaining 2 tablespoons blueberry juice with cornstarch to make a slurry. Set aside.

Bring blueberry mixture to a boil and add cornstarch slurry. Cook until slightly thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in remaining 2 cups blueberries and lime juice. Set aside to cool.

Cream:
1 cup mascarpone
¼ cup whipping cream
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon grated lime rind

Combine mascarpone, whipping cream, sugar and remaining teaspoon lime rind in a small bowl. Stir until uniform. Spread into prepared pie shell. Top with cooled blueberry mixture.

Serves 6 to 8.