Blueberry Lemon Tart – my favorite summer recipe!

One of our favorite summer treats is this Blueberry Lemon Tart that I found at MarthaStewart.com.  Each year after blueberry picking, it is one of the first things I make.  This year I made it while we were on vacation so we needed to eat it quick – mostly for breakfast!

My version, slighted adjusted from Martha,
Blueberry Lemon Tart

Ingredients

For the Crust

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick butter

For the Filling

• 6 cups (six 1/2-pint containers) fresh blueberries, rinsed and dried
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• grated lemon zest of whole lemon
• fresh lemon juice from the same lemon
• 2/3 cup sugar
• pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons water

Lemon Blueberry Tart

1. I stick the stick of butter in the microwave to soften it and then stir in the flour, sugar and salt.  I normally press it into a spring form pan that has high sides.  This time used an actual tart dish, although the sides were very shallow.  I put it in the oven at 350 until it was golden brown.

2. Then while the crust was cooling, I brought 1 and 1/2 cups of blueberries and 2 tablespoons of water to a boil, cooking at medium and stirring frequently until all the berries were complete mush.

3. In a separate bowl I zested a whole lemon, squeezed in all the juice (which is way more than Martha’s recipe) and whisked in the sugar, salt and cornstarch.  I like the little mini whisks for this sort of thing – when you need to mix the ingredients quickly and thoroughly.  Then I add this to the cooked blueberry mixture making sure to whisk constantly so that sugar doesn’t settle and the cornstarch doesn’t clump.

4. I pour the cooked mixture into the remaining uncooked blueberries and coat them evenly before pouring it all on to the cooling crust until it is full.  Then chill for several hours before eating.  This is definitely a recipe that tastes even better the next day, you know at breakfast!

Because I used a smaller (but pretty) tart dish, I had quite a bit of blueberry filling left over.  Fortunately I also had a rather large bottle(s) of Riesling with us – it was vacation after all!  And I combined the left over filling with the wine for an impromptu summer sangria New England style.  Just as yummy!

Blueberry Lemon Sangria

Last year while home on maternity leave I tried to cheat and use a graham cracker crust.  Nope, not the same!