One of my favorite blueberry pie recipes involved a method that relied on making a jam out of the berries and folding in uncooked berries to mound in a baked tart shell. Couldn’t be easier. But I couldn’t remember the exact proportions of the recipe. It came from a cookbook that was now in a disheveled state of disrepair on my shelf and stopped at the page that said Tarts. The rest of the book was missing. I couldn’t remember the name of the author. No where in the book did it state the name of the book or its author.
I then did an exhaustive Google search. It was a book on baking; that much I knew. After many moments of search and trial by error the name to me: Paula Peck. She worked with Craig Claiborne at the Times and contributed many recipes. And she was also a force with James Beard, who was still alive in her tenure. You can’t get better credentials than those.
Then I did another Google search for Paula Peck’s blueberry tart. What came up was the recipe in a site called ImPECKable Eats by Megan Peck, the granddaughter of Paula Peck. Her site recreated her grandmother’s many baking recipes (including this tart) from the “The Art of Baking” as well as Peck’s book “The Fine Art of Cooking.” (see http://impeckableeats.com/about).
I ordered a hardback copy of the book from Amazon. My old book was paperback. I figured this would last a lifetime (mine, at least).
Quite joyfully I made this great tart once more. I had a rich lard crust in the freezer, made like a sweet tart shell with confectioner’s sugar, egg yolk and a spritz of vinegar. The shell was not really appropriate for this tart and an all butter one is better. Just mix 1 1/4 cups flour with a stick of butter, a teaspoon of sugar and a pinch of salt, moisten with about 1/4 cup ice water. Prepare in the usual way and fit into a 9-inch tart pan. Freeze the tart shell for at least 30 minutes. This will prevent the shell for shrinking during pre-baking. To bake, cover the unbaked shell with a crumpled piece of parchment and lay it in loosely over the shell. Fill with beans or other weights and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove the parchment and beans and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes until the crust is lightly golden brown, Let cool and fill with the blueberry mixture. See recipe below.
I’ve made a few minor changes to the original recipe. When I first contemplated making this I had only 1 pint of wild blueberries. I rushed out to the local Rosemont on the Hill and picked up the only local berries they had, the high bush variety. I mixed the two together. I liked the combination–the larger berries adding a more robust texture to the filling with the more delicate wild berries. I’ve made this tart using the pastry cream. You can go either way. Without it is much easier though not as luxurious.
I’ve made a similar tart with raspberries (and strawberries). Here’s it’s even easier. Into a prebaked shell (this version in a store-bought shell) pile in about add 1 to 2 pints of raspberries and glaze with either raspberry jam that’s melted or red-currant jelly. If the berries are not sweet enough sprinkle them with a bit of sugar before brushing on the glaze.
Ingredients
- 1 recipe rich tart pastry dough or your favorite butter pastry
- 4 cups blueberries, half low and half high bush
- Scant 1/2 cup sugar (about 3/8 cup)
- Zest and juice of 1/2 a lemon
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 recipe pastry cream (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Line a 9-inch tart shell with the rolled out pastry. Freeze for 30 minutes. When ready to bake, cover the shell with a half-sheet size piece of pre-cut parchment paper that you crumble up before putting on tart shell. Fill with beans (I have 1 pound bag of State of Maine beans stored in a glass jar in the cupboard for this express purpose.)
- Bake for 20 minutes. Remove parchment and continue to bake for about 5 minutes or until the shell is lightly golden brown. Let cool before filling.
- Meanwhile combine 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries ( mix high and low bush berries), the sugar, lemon zest and juice over medium low heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved.
- Raise the heat to medium high and boil rapidly for about 8 minutes, stirring often, until blueberries thicken and acquire the consistency of jam. Don't overcook because the mixture could burn if you don't watch it carefully.
- Cool this mixture for about 10 minutes. Combine the raw blueberries with the cooked jam, mixing gently. Spoon into the tart shell and serve. You won't need a whipped cream topping and putting a base of pastry cream on the bottom is optional.
Notes
This is my adaption of Paula Peck's original recipe.
