Sacramento Digs Gardening Article
Your resource for Sacramento-area gardening news, tips and events

Articles Recipe Index Keyword Index Calendar Twitter Facebook Instagram About Us Contact Us

A special treat using special fruit

Recipe: Blueberry tarts topped with lemon curd

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED MAY 10, 2020

Blueberry tart topped with homemade lemon curd -- what a treat! (Photos: Debbie Arrington)

As any California gardener who grows them knows, blueberries are special. When a bush finally starts producing, they're like precious little sapphires. That inspires an equally special presentation.

Homegrown blueberries deserve special treatment.

Tarts are round showcases for these garden gems. This version, adapted from the classic "Joy of Cooking," shows off the fresh berries like the treasures they are.

Instead of topping with plain custard or whipped cream, I chose a vibrant lemon curd from the Southern cookbook by Ronni Lundy, "Butter Beans to Blackberries." In her book, she serves fresh blueberries topped with lemon curd and cornmeal cookies on the side. That's a simple alternative if tarts seem too complicated -- or it's too hot to turn on the oven.

Blueberry tarts with lemon curd
Makes 6 tarts

Ingredients:

Vienna pastry dough (see recipe) or 6 pre-made tart shells
1 pint blueberries, washed
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Lemon curd (see recipe)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Prepare pastry shells and bake for 8 minutes. Remove from oven.

In a large bowl, mix together blueberries, sugar and lemon juice.

Spoon sugared blueberries in a single layer into each tart shell.

Reduce heat to 375 degrees F. Return filled tarts to oven. Loosely top with foil to prevent crusts from burning, if needed. Bake for 12 minutes or until blueberries start to release juice.

Remove from oven and let cool.

Remove tarts from tins, if necessary. Serve with lemon curd.

Vienna pastry
Makes 6 to 8 tart shells

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled butter
4 ounce soft cream cheese

Instructions:

In a large bowl, sift together flour and salt. With a pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter and cream cheese. (If needed, add 1 tablespoon water.)
When well blended, wrap dough in foil and chill in freezer for at least 30 minutes or until ready to use.
Preheat over to 450 degrees F.
Using parchment paper or plastic wrap, roll out dough 1/8-inch thick. Transfer dough to tart pans. Prick dough with fork in several places.
Bake tart shells for 8 minutes or until brown. (Watch

carefully!)

Remove from oven.

Recipe adapted from "Joy of Cooking" by Irma Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker (Bobbs-Merrill, 1975 edition)

Lemon curd
Makes about 1-1/4 cups

Ingredients:

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (2 large lemons)
2 tablespoons lemon zest
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
1 whole egg
2 egg yolks

Instructions:

In the top of a double boiler over boiling water, combine lemon juice, zest, sugar and butter. Stir often as butter melts and sugar dissolves.
Over medium high heat, let lemon mixture cook for 2 minutes, stirring often; little bubbles start to form along the edges.
In a separate bowl, beat together whole egg and egg yolks.
Remove lemon mixture from heat. Add half of lemon mixture to beaten eggs, whisking to blend. Whisk this mixture into the remaining lemon mixture in top of double boiler. Return to heat.
Cook until curd thickens, stirring often; about 5 minutes. Let cool. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Recipe adapted from "Butter Beans to Blackberries: Recipes from the Southern Garden" by Ronni Lundy (North Point Press, 1999).

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

Keywords:

baking recipes lemon gardening Sacramento farmers markets recipe backyard produce produce management blueberries

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Taste Fall! E-cookbook

Find our fall recipes here!

Thanks to Our Sponsor!

Local News

Sites We Like

Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3

November still offers good weather for fall planting:

* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.

* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.

* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.

* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.

* Plant garlic and onions.

* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.

* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.

* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.

* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.

* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.

* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.

* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.

* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.

* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.

Taste Spring! E-cookbook

Find our spring recipes here!

Taste Summer! E-cookbook

Find our summer recipes here!

Taste Winter! E-cookbook

Find our winter recipes here!