red, white, and blue(berry tart).

Hi there! I hope that you had a fun and relaxing holiday weekend. I spent mine in New Jersey with good friends, mostly in the pool, always in a state of food-satisfaction. In addition to making a 4th of July feast, we also made a surprise pre-wedding cake for M. and J. (Now married! Love.)

This will become my go-to special-occasion white cake and frosting, I think. (Modified from smittenkitchen: cake and frosting.) The Swiss buttercream frosting had egg whites folded in, so it was light and shiny; because we filled the cake with raspberry jam, we tinted the leftover frosting yellow and piped it on. Such fun!

And that was just the warm-up act! Our dinner feast was beautiful to look at - so many different colors and textures (captured imperfectly with my camera, which doesn't do very well in limited light).

A's festive baked brie with fig preserves.

M.'s guacamole and beet-chevre spread. So pretty!

Fixings for Moscow Mules by M., the cocktail master. (Or mistress?)

C. and J. made incredible salads. This one: wild rice, cherries, chevre, and basil.

Golden beet and carrot slaw.

Non-mayonnaise potato salad.

Tangy butterbeans and red peppers.

About to be devoured, along with J.'s most excellent burger.

My contribution was dessert: a blueberry lemon chiffon tart from the Tartine cookbook. I love this book - it's gorgeous and inventive, and everything I've made has turned out wonderfully. I made only a few tweaks: I subbed in the Orangette tart crust (so reliable that it's basically the only crust I'll use!) and simplified a few steps. It's not a flashy dessert, but it's light and rich at the same time, not too sweet, and a great way to showcase fresh berries. The tart doesn't use all of the lemon cream; like lemon curd, it would be delicious on baked goods, I think.

Blueberry Lemon Chiffon Tart
adapted from Tartine

Baked and cooled 9" tart shell [see here]
1/2 c. + 2 tbsp. lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
3 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
2/3 c. sugar
pinch salt
1 c. unsalted butter, cool
3/4 c. heavy cream
1 1/2 pints blueberries, washed and dried

Lemon cream:
1. In a double-boiler, combine lemon juice, eggs, egg yolk, sugar, and salt; whisk constantly for 10-12 mins., until the mixture is very thick and pale yellow. Remove top half of double boiler and let mixture cool slightly, stirring occasionally.

2. Cut butter into 1-tbsp. pieces. When the cream has cooled slightly, pour it into a blender or a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. With the blender/mixer running, add the butter 1 piece at a time, blending until each addition is incorporated before adding the next. Unlike lemon curd, the cream will be very pale yellow and opaque. Measure out 1 c. for the tart filling and set the rest aside.

Assemble tart:
3. Whip the 3/4 c. cream until it holds medium peaks. Fold together with 1 c. of the lemon cream.

4. Spoon the filling into the tart shell and smooth the top with a spatula. Top with blueberries - I piled them high, but you could also do a single layer.

5. Chill until filling is firm, about 2 hours. Serve cool.

blueberry crumb bars.

Hallelujah, a respite from the heat. Soaring summer temperatures make me crabby and the non-airconditioned portion of my apartment unbearable. (Not to mention what they do to butter once it's been out of the fridge for 5 seconds. Grr.) The past few days, though, have been a blissful, breezy break from the swelteringness. I've been taking advantage of the opportunity to be in the kitchen without risking heatstroke (you think I exaggerate...but no) and baking happily. In fact, I just put an adorable braided bread to bed in the refrigerator; I'm a little bit giddy at the prospect of baking it tomorrow morning and, of course, look forward to sharing it with you.

In the meantime, though, I'll share this recipe. Perfect for the summer: easy to throw together, travels well, likes being refrigerated, and features blueberries. I used frozen because I had some around and I think blueberries freeze remarkably well, though I'm sure fresh would be delicious. Inspired by a very talented foodie friend who has a knack for these things, I've been cutting sugar from more and more recipes that I try. The experiment worked well here, and I ended up with bars that were quite tasty but not too sweet, mild enough to eat for breakfast. (I speak from experience. Of course, I'll also eat brownies for breakfast. Or chocolate cake. So perhaps I'm not the best judge.) Whenever you eat them, enjoy!


Blueberry Crumb Bars
adapted from smittenkitchen, adapted in turn from allrecipes.com

heaping 1/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. brown sugar
3 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
12 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cubed
1 egg
1/4 tsp. salt
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
4 c. blueberries (*if using frozen, don't thaw first)
4 tsp. corn starch

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Grease a 9x13" pan. (*I forgot to do this and the bars popped out just fine from my metal pan.)

2. In a medium bowl, combine sugars, flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Blend in the butter and egg using a pastry cutter. (*I used my hands for this, incorporating the butter first and then the egg. I found, as I often do with this sort of step, that crumbling the mixture with my fingers gives me the best control and lets me combine it really well.) Pat half the crumbly dough firmly into the pan; spread evenly.


3. In another bowl, stir together the cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently stir in the blueberries until coated, then spread over the crust. (*Be gentle!) Crumble remaining dough over the berries.


4. Bake for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly browned. (*This ended up taking closer to 55 minutes for me.) Cool completely before cutting into squares. These cut easily when they're chilled, and they store well in the fridge, too.