Thursday 10 July 2008

Sometimes She Bakes: Blueberry Tart


Blueberry Tart
Inspired by a recipe for a Berry Tart
with fresh ginger and a rosemary crust
that I found on
Ilva's Tuscan blog,
Lucullian Delights.

Ilva is a Swedish native who moved to Tuscany
some 14 years ago. She has been tempting me
with her recipes and photographs
ever since the very first time I set eyes on her blog.

I am one of those foodie magazine readers
who admire the great ideas and foods
professional chefs come up with,
but rarely find within themselves the will or discipline
to actually follow through with a new recipe.

Not so with Ilva's,
especially when she comes up with recipes that
include saffron, cardamom, fresh ginger,
and/or rosemary!
Those spices act like catchwords,
making it almost mandatory for me
to at least try to find the time
to cook whatever dish Ilva has come up with
(think "Saffron Yogurt with Spicy Honey and Puffed Quinoa" - sounds like
a food symphony, doesn't it?
Click here for the recipe, but please, do so
at your own risk!)

This past Sunday,
she did it again!
"1 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped,"
"fresh ginger, about the size of an unshelled hazelnut and finely chopped" -
and who am I,
to resist such utterly tempting ingredients?
Imagine my despair,
when I found my cupboard almost bare,
no blackberries, no raspberries,
no almond flour!
Even the small basket of red currants,
which my mother had so lovingly picked for me,
gone! Oh, woe is me,
I had given it to a friend,
only the night before!

Oh well, I said,
"if life gives you a lemon,
make a lemonade,"

if Ilva gives you a recipe,
and you have about half of the items
on her ingredients list in your pantry,
you ought to at least try
to come up with substitutes
for the missing ones.
And so I did.
Here's what I came up with:

100g Yoghurt butter
50g sugar

1 large egg
1 tbsp. finely chopped rosemary

50g toasted hazelnuts,
finely ground

mixed well

225g spelt flour
Worked in with a cooking spoon,
then put dough to rest.

For the custard,
200g fresh ricotta cheese
3 tbsp. heavy cream
3 eggs
1 tbsp. grated ginger root

zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp. sugar

1 small can of apricot halves
3 handfuls fresh blueberries

1 handful of almonds,
cut lengthwise into sticks

Bon Appetit! :-)


27 comments:

  1. Hmmm! Looks delicious! May I come for breakfast? ;)

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  2. All gone, unfortunately!
    Next time? ;-)

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  3. Oh my friend, what a lovely post and now I'm hungry! I do love blueberries...my bushes are loaded and need picking now...maybe I'll go pick them and try this...lovely pictures of heavenly desserts!
    hugs
    Sandi

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  4. Oh Merisi! What a lovely dish. I'm useless at pastry making and always cheat and buy a ready-made one.
    I popped over to Ilva's blog to see the yoghurt pudding with puffed quinoa. I love quinoa and use it a lot, but don't know how to 'puff' it. Is it something you buy already puffed or do you buy it like that, as in puffed wheat or popcorn?

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  5. I just happen to have some blueberries in my fridge. But I doubt I could pull this off. Looks scrumptious.

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  6. Die Blueberry Tart sieht soooo gut aus! Ich kann sie fast schmecken´- Rezept ist abgeschrieben

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  7. You just aren't fair....Now I am so hungry.....The recipe sounds delightful. I think I wouldn't know when to stop.

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  8. Don't you just LOVE Ilva's site? I found her through your site a while back. Not only is she a fantastic chef but she's quite a photographer as well. Blueberries are on sale this week at our Kroger store......hmmm, maybe I should step up and try the recipe, too. Making desserts is not my forte, eating them is, but I might just try this one. My family loves blueberries. Happy Friday!
    ~Allie

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  9. clearly you can bake
    up a storm.

    :-)

    everything looks yummy!

    but
    i am in ove
    with that little sugar spoon
    with the curly handle.

    so sweet
    it ~should~ live in a sugar bowl...

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  10. Wow, wow, wow! This looks beautiful and I am very sure that it tasted beautiful too. What an interesting and unusual recipe. mmmm!

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  11. Anonymous12 July, 2008

    Looks yummy! Maybe I'll have to go shopping.

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  12. Anonymous12 July, 2008

    Delicious. PLease save a piece for when I come down.

    Ilva's blog is one I visit daily. Her cooking is ART.

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  13. Delicious ...I love them..poor me, am on a diet

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  14. HEAVENS!!!
    I want it now!
    Looks very Viennesse to me..even if the recipe came from a Swede in Tuscany,,,ahem

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  15. It looks Miam Miam !
    MAy I have a slice ?

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  16. Thank you all for the kind and encouraging comments!
    I will make sure that I will visit you at your respective blog residences, to see what you all are up to these days. :-)

    I wish you all a wonderful weekend,
    Merisi

    P.S.:
    As far as the recipe is concerned, next time I would take 100g more of the ricotta cheese (you can also what in the USA is called "fresh farmer's cheese" - Topfen in Vienna, Quark in Germany - the fresher the better, of course). I would also reduce the number of eggs to two. This cake tastes wonderful if you take rhubarb instead of the blueberries. You may want to add a bit more sugar, though. Fresh apricots would we wunderful too.

    LORENZOTHELLAMA:
    The crust is really easy to do:
    Take about half the amount and throw spoon size piece on the bottom of a tart pan with removeable bottom (I lined mine with parchment paper!). Spread it with the tips of your fingers to cover the bottom. Take the other half of the dough, didive it in fourth, form ropes, and place these around the pan perimeter (this is an easy way to figure out how thin they'll have to be to line the sides of the pan - if you know a better way, please let me know). Press the dough along the sides of the pan, to a height of about 3/4 of an inch).

    Preheat oven to 175C (325F),
    bake for about 50-60 minutes.

    Bon appetit!

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  17. Looks absolutely delicious!
    And I bet it tastes even better...
    I'll have to pass the recipe on to my chefs.

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  18. Anonymous13 July, 2008

    This tart looks and sounds absolutely delicious! I love blueberries and made a tart myself last night with blueberries and nectarines. Would love to try yours....


    Eileen (passions to pastry)
    www.livingtastefully.com

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  19. Anonymous13 July, 2008

    So, you bake too :)

    Looks delish!!

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  20. Wow, my mouth is watering...

    ... no option for blueberry tart today, but I think I'm definitely going to have to make the banana bread I was thinking of, now that you've inspired the baking urge!

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  21. Boy that sounds yummy. I am also seduced by recipes that combine fresh herbs with interesting things. My blueberries are just coming on and there is plenty of rosemary out there... hmmmm..

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  22. WOAH!!!!!! too much for me!!!

    Having done a big ride yesterday I am STARVING!!

    I agree Ilvas blog is superb ! :o)

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  23. The addition of rosemary is most intriguing. I have only seen rosemary used in the cooking of savoury cooking.

    The photos are so yummy looking....even the mixing bowl ones!

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  24. Anonymous20 July, 2008

    Hi, Merisi,

    So delicious and delicious looking that I have just burned my supper toast scrolling through the pics.

    Sniff, sniff: can you smell that burnt toast?

    ;))

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