sweet enough bakes

Our blueberries are doing very well this year so I made a Blueberry Tart.

The recipe is a wee bit more involved than some of the others – it needs pastry and custard, but I enjoy making it and I do think it looks quite impressive, if you don’t look too hard. We had a wonderful version of this tart in the south of France a couple of years ago and although it doesn’t perhaps reach those heights, I think it tastes pretty good!

Blueberry Tart (Tarte aux Myrtilles) pdf Tarte aux Myrtilles

Pastry

200g plain flour

100g unsalted butter

2-3 tablespoons of cold water

 

Crème Patissiere

300ml milk

300ml double cream

2 vanilla pods

6 egg yolks

1 tablespoon caster sugar

3 tablespoons plain flour

 

And…

300g blueberries

 

Pastry:

1. Start by heating the oven to 180 degrees
2. Rub together the plain flour and butter until you get the texture of fine breadcrumbs. Add water gradually to draw together. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
3. Roll out the pastry to fit a 25cm loose-bottomed flan tin (pastry will be ~3mm thick). I leave a bit of pastry overhanging the edge of the flan tin as it always shrinks a bit when cooking. Chill in the fridge again for another 30 minutes
4. Fill with baking parchment and baking beans. Bake blind for 15-20 minutes, then remove baking parchment and beans and bake for a further 5-10 minutes until the base is cooked.

 

Crème Patissiere:

1. Put milk and cream into a saucepan. Using the tip of a sharp knife, score the vanilla pods lengthways. Add to the pan and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat and allow to infuse for 20-30 minutes.
2. Beat the egg yolks together with the sugar and flour in a bowl until smooth. Remove vanilla pods and scrape out the seeds. Return seeds to milk/cream mix. Pour milk/cream mix over the egg mixture and beat well.
3. Return custard to the pan and cook over a gentle heat, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon until thick and smooth. This takes 4-10 minutes for me and even if it is a bit lumpy this makes no difference to the final product as far as I can tell!

 

Assemble the Tart…

1. Seal the pastry case with a beaten egg
2. Pour in the custard
3. Add the blueberries
4. Bake for ~30 minutes
5. Allow to cool a little before eating….