The Many Fruits of Summer

Blueberry Crostata

I’ve always loved the summer for so many reasons. Warm weather gets me up and out more and there are many more options for activities when it’s warm outside. The fruits that become available are amazing and I’ve just come to realize how beneficial it is to their flavor to wait until a fruit is in season before cooking with and eating it.

Blueberries have finally come around and they are inexpensive, juicy and sweet!

Did someone mention blueberry pie?
Yes, they did and I made it easy on myself by making this fruity and rustic blueberry crostata.
Very fresh, and a nice mix of tart and sweet.  And did I mention that blueberries are loaded with antioxidants?

This is an easy and full-of-flavor recipe that I tweaked from a combination of The Barefoot Contessa’s Apple Crostata recipe and Epicurious’ Blueberry Pie recipe.

Enjoy these tempting photos and try it yourself.

Not hard, trust me.

Blueberries all wrapped up and ready for baking!

 Blueberry bursts of flavor!

Baked and ready to eat!

 Just another angle of delicious-ness!

Here, have a slice!

 Or two!

The recipe…

Blueberry Crostata

Recipe for the dough:

**Please note that I doubled the recipe for the dough to accommodate the amount of blueberries used.

1 C flour, 2 T sugar, 1/4 t salt, 1 stick cold butter, 2 T ice water

Tip:  Freeze the unsalted butter for about 30 minutes then use a cheese grater to add it in with the other ingredients.  Super easy!
When the mixture is crumbly, roll it by hand on a clean floured surface and knead it.
Form it into a disc, wrap it in plastic then refrigerate it until the filling is completed.
Roll out the dough into a circular shape (about 11″ diameter) and place it on a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Recipe for the filling:

Ingredients:

3 C. blueberries
1/2 C water
2 T potato starch
1/2 C organic sugar
2 t freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 t freshly squeezed orange juice
1/2 t lemon zest
pinch of salt

Process:  cook 1 cup of the blueberries in the 1/2 cup of water; bring to a boil.  In a separate bowl mix the potato starch, lemon and orange juices, sugar, zest and salt; add this mixture to the boiling blueberries and stir constantly; let simmer for about 2 minutes and remove from heat; after cooled gently add to the remaining blueberries mixing well.

Add this mixture to your chilled and rolled out dough.  Fold up the edges to “hug” the blueberry mixture.; bake in a preheated oven at 400 F degrees for about 40 minutes until crust is golden.  Let cool before serving.