Blueberry Galette

When Marie Antoinette said "Let them eat cake" maybe she was really talking about Galettes. The definition of galette is from the French and designates a type of "free form" pie or tart. Sweet or savory, these rustic and easy to make "pies" leave your family or guests thinking that, like the lady who splashes flour on her face after making Rice Krispie treats, you have slaved for hours over a hot stove. In all actuality, they are "as easy as pie" only easier.

If you have a favorite pie crust recipe, make it, but you also can grab a pre-made crust - the type that comes from the refrigerator case - let it sit out for a bit so it become pliable - you don't want it to crack and let all the good juices from your fruit filling out!

Blueberry Gallette

Turn your oven on 375 degrees.

Make (or take out of the fridge) One pie crust for single crust pie. Lay it out on a large baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper. If you have a pizza stone even better - but remove all the traces of pizza from it first - no one wants a piece of blueberry tart that tastes like garlic......(like the iced tea with lemon that I got at Arby's the other day - they had, apparently cut their lemon slices on their food slicer - pretty smart idea - all your slices will be uniform - but a bad idea if you have just sliced the onions and NOT cleaned the slicer first - Onion iced tea doesn't hold a candle to that with raspberry stuff...) Sorry, I digress.......

In a medium sized bowl, toss
2 1/2 - 3 cups of fresh (or frozen) blueberries
1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar, depending upon how sweet your berries are
(if your berries are kind of bland you could add a little lemon zest or a tablespoon of lemon juice here)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 Tbsp of cornstarch

Mound your berry mixture onto the middle of the pie crust leaving at least a 3 inch border all the way around. Carefully fold up the crust around the berries (leaving a saucer sized hole in the center - your dough will not meet in the middle.) This is why you want to make sure that your crust is at room temperature because if it is too cold, it will crack around the folds and all the juice from your tart will run out! If you want to, sprinkle a little sugar around the edges.

Bake galette at 375 degrees for 35 minutes (if you are using a refrigerated pie crust, I would suggest 350 degrees for 40 - 45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

Remove from the oven and run a thin spatula under your tart and carefully transfer it to a service platter. A nice touch is to make a little powdered sugar glaze with 1/2 cup powdered sugar and about a tablespoon of water - drizzle this over the galette and serve. (you could also sift a little powdered sugar over the top - ala Emerill - you know "Bam"

Some recipes I found for galettes said this made 12 servings - egads - I was thinking 4 at the most!

You can also make this with any kind of fruit that you might have on hand - apples, blackberries, plums, apricots, peaches, singularly or a mix of two or three. Try layering them on top of some sweetened cream cheese, or go savory with an onion jam and sliced almonds or maybe sauteed spinach, mushrooms, onions and feta cheese. Now, doesn't that sound tasty? Enjoy!

Lemon-Blueberry Cream Pie

I got this recipe out of a Better Homes & Gardens magazine years ago before blueberries were the "favored fruit" - It is, quite honestly, one of the best pies I've ever had. Fresh blueberries are folded into a thick lemony filling that's been given a little more tang and richness with sour cream. Best eaten the day it's made, make your best pastry pie shell for this pie, but if "push comes to shove" I think that a graham cracker crust would be OK too.

(BTW, If you don't have a microplane grater, get one. If nothing more, just for grating lemon rind. Then grate all the rind off the lemons as they come in the house - put it in the freezer wrapped in plastic wrap - it will last for a month or so - put it in salad dressings, on chicken or fish - works on limes, oranges too - and although I've never used it - fresh nutmeg) Anyhow, I digress - here is the recipe for Lemon-Blueberry Cream Pie

LEMON BLUEBERRY CREAM PIE

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 cup milk
3 egg yolks, beaten
1/4 cup butter, cut up
1 Tbsp finely grated fresh lemon peel

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 8oz. carton sour cream
2 cups fresh blueberries

1 9-inch baked pie shell

Sweetened whipped cream (optional)
Lemon slices, to garnish (optional)

To make the filling:

In a saucepan combine 1 cup sugar and cornstarch. Add milk, egg yolks, butter or margarine, and 1 tablespoon lemon peel. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly; cook and stir 2 minutes more. Remove from heat; stir in lemon juice. Transfer to a bowl; cover with plastic wrap and cool. When cool, stir sour cream and blueberries into mixture; pour into baked pastry shell. Cover and chill at least 4 hours. If desired, stir a little lemon peel into sweetened whipped cream. Pipe or spoon atop pie. Garnish with lemon slices.


Number of servings: 8