Monday, June 2, 2014

Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weeny Blue Berry


Crostata! Aww, come on, you didn't expect a bikini, did you? I hope you'll forgive a variation on my strawberry crostata today. A friend was coming through, and one of her most favorite things in the world is warm blueberry pie with vanilla ice cream on top.

Let's face it. There are only so many things you can do with a blueberry pie. So I made personal blueberry crostatas instead. It gave me a chance to see how well my pastry recipe held up. It has been in the freezer for two weeks. I simply took it out of the freezer and allowed it to thaw at room temperature.

It was a tiny bit sticky, but a dusting of flour cured that right away. Once again, it rolled out very easily and was most cooperative. I'm posting the recipe for the pastry again so you won't have to flip back and forth. I may end up keeping some of this pastry in the freezer all the time. The crostatas were quick and easy to make these since the pastry was ready to go.



This has nothing to do with crostatas, but when I fried some eggs this week, I couldn't help noticing the yolks. Some of these yolks are from a local farm and some are from organic grocery store eggs. Wow! I bet you can guess which are which. What a difference in those yolks. According to Chow the color probably results from being free range, thus having a wider variety of plants to eat but it doesn't impact the nutritional value of the yolk.


Mini Blueberry Crostatas
(makes three mini crostatas)


Pastry

1/2 cup pecans
2 cups flour + extra for rolling out
1 tablespoon sugar
4 ounces (1/2 package) cold cream cheese
1 stick cold butter
pinch Kosher salt
2 cold eggs

In a food processor, chop the pecans until tiny. Switch to pastry blade if you have one. Cut both the butter and cream cheese into 8 pieces. Add flour, sugar, cream cheese, butter, and salt to the pecans already in the food processor. Pulse, pulse, pulse until well mixed. Add the two cold eggs and pulse until the dough forms a smooth ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.

Preheat oven to 375. Cover a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Filling

18 ounces fresh blueberries
2 tablespoons tapioca
2 tablespoons sugar (or more if you have a sweet tooth)
1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 egg, lightly beaten

Mix the four ingredients in a bowl. Divide pastry in half and freeze one half for another day. Divide remaining pastry in three equal portions. Dust the first piece with flour and roll into a circle about 9 inches in diameter. It's okay if it's not a perfect circle. Move to parchment paper. Spoon 1/3 of the blueberry mixture in the middle and spread a bit toward the edges, leaving the outer 1 1/2 inches or so empty. Fold the edge up over the filling, turning and folding until complete. Repeat with second and third crostatas. Brush with egg wash. Bake 30 minutes.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Roll out dough and fill with blueberries.

There's that orange egg yolk in the egg wash!

Ready to bake.




The Diva Wraps It Up will be in bookstores tomorrow!


17 comments:

  1. Pretty! Maybe we should see how many different fillings we can come up with. Me, I'm fantasizing about swapping the pecans for chopped hazelnuts. Now, what to put inside...

    I should add that I recently had dinner at Lumiere, which is a very nice restaurant in the Boston suburbs, and the chef included a rhubarb crostata as dessert in his tasting menu. I resisted taking pictures.

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    1. Okay, I'm drooling at the thought of swapping the pecans for hazelnuts. The flavor! Yum!

      Rhubarb? Interesting. Did he do anything to the exterior or top to dress it up?

      ~Krista

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  2. I have a small orchard with blue berries included. Will definitely try this.

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    1. It must be lovely, Darlene. We have a few blueberry bushes but not enough to satisfy our blueberry consumption.

      ~Krista

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    2. Lucky dog you, Darlene! We have a few bushes too, but the birds manage to get most of the berries

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  3. All I can say is WOW!, Krista. Love this...

    XO

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    1. Wish you were here to enjoy them with us, Mary Jane!

      ~Krista

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  4. Warm blueberry pie with ice cream is one of my favorites, too! I'm not a big sweet eater but that...mmmm. These look divine and are on my soon to be tried list!

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    1. I think you'll like them, Peg. I hope so!!!!

      ~Krista

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  5. Individual pies--what a great idea!
    The golden yolks may not show a difference in nutrition, but I know I feel better eating them because they are so vibrant and happy looking.

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    1. It's silly of me, but somehow I feel like they're healthier. And I'm always so impressed when I see them.

      ~Krista

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  6. I think the blueberry version looks better! I bet it would be good with peaches. I am still thing about the eggs WOW. My parents had chickens while I was growing up. There is nothing like a farm fresh egg!

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    1. LOL! We must be on the same wavelength because I was thinking about using peaches this morning. I agree completely about the farm fresh eggs. I was so surprised when I saw them side-by-side in the pan that I grabbed my camera!

      ~Krista

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  7. Oh my stars, Krista--will you make me these if I come through town? :) And they don't have to be blueberry. Rhubarb sounds delicious, or apple--or, oh, how about peach? And I agree too about free-range eggs. I used to keep chickens; it was so hard to get used to the pale-colored, limp, pale-tasting eggs once I had to leave the chickens behind and move away. I buy the eggs from a farmer lady now, along with raw milk.

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    1. LOL! You bet I will! I think they would be great with apples and cinnamon.

      I know someone else who buys raw milk. Maybe I should look into that. Were the chickens a lot of work?

      ~Krista

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  8. Very pretty. Yum, yum! The egg yolks, yipes!!!

    Daryl / Avery

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    1. Makes you think twice about buying eggs from the store, doesn't it?

      ~Krista

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