The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Berry, berry good
In sweet or savory dishes, or as a snack, blueberries are a yearround delight
I missed paying homage to one of my favorite fruits, blueberries.
July is the month designated to celebrate this tiny fruit packed with nutritional benefits. Blueberry cravings don’t follow the calendar and they can be enjoyed yearround. The North American blueberry season runs through late September. During our winter months, South America is enjoying summer and, luckily for us, imports from Chile, Argentina, Peru and Uruguay enable us to fulfill our cravings.
I learned from the U.S. High bush Blue berry Council that people in the early 20th century didn’t think blueberries could be domesticated, but Elizabeth White, the daughter of a New Jersey cranberry farmer, was determined to grow a flourishing industry for cultivated blueberries.
In 1911, she teamed up with USDA botanist Frederick Coville to identify wild plants with the most desirable properties, crossbred the bushes and created new blueberry varieties. Coville and White harvested and sold the first commercial crop of blueberries out of Whitesbog, N.J., in 1916.
The majority of all blueberries are eaten fresh. I often eat them as a snack, right from the plastic clamshell container. The rest are frozen, pureed, concentrated, canned or dried to be used in a wide range of food products. When cooking with or incorporating these blue gems, it most often is in sweet items such as pastries, muffins, pies, pancakes and yogurt. Why not explore using them in savory dishes, too?
The U.S. High bush Blue berry Council provides informative information and recipes in its monthly newsletter andon its website, including savory ones using blueberries.
Blue berry and gorgonzola salad with mixed greens
Recipe by Executive Chef Albert Paris of Zanzibar Blue, Philadelphia, Pa. The headnote says, “Anchor your salad offerings with this appealing combination of blueberry and gorgonzola salad with mixed greens. Then dream upmore salads that capitalize on blueberries’ bright flavor and deep color.”
1⁄4 cup Safflower oil
3 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons honey
1 table spoon white vinegar
1 table spoon poppy seeds 1 teaspoon lemon juice 1⁄ teaspoon salt
1⁄2 teaspoon ground black pepper
8 Mixed salad greens such as Bib b lettuce
8 cups Tat so ia nd Belgian en dive 1 cup fresh blue berries
2 ounces( about 1⁄2 cup) crumbled gorgonzola cheese
To prepare poppy seed dressing: Ina blender container, combine oil, sour cream, honey, vinegar, poppy seeds, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Process until blended.
To plate each serving: Ina bowl, combine 2 cups salad greens with about 21⁄2 tablespoons poppy seed dressing. Toss. Place greens on serving plate. Top with 1⁄4 cup blueberries and 2 tablespoons Gorgonzola cheese. Garnish plates with additional endive leaves, if desired.
An addition to my collection is the recently published“The Blue berry Cookbook” by Sally Pasley Vargas (2019, Down East Books, $19.95). It celebrates the flavor and versatility of the wild blueberry, also knownas low bush blueberries.
The recipes are traditional, but also reflect today’s vibrant and imaginative cooking style. Emphasizing the low bush variety’s Maine roots and its standing as a “superfood,” the cookbook profiles the industry and is peppered with fun features and health facts. Recipes range from muffins to tasty entrees to desserts, cocktails, and preserves. The blueberry pantry starts off the book educating the reader about the characteristics of and howto best use wild, fresh cultivated, dried, freezedried, and frozen blueberries. Although there are recipes for entrees such as pancakes, they are of a sweet nature. A few savory recipes, perhaps would have rounded out the book.
The photos of the recipes are mouthwatering and enticed me to pickup some blue berries to try a couple of the recipes. Connecticut’s Dorie Greenspan’s recipe below, featured in the book will soon be in the oven. Later, the Blackand Blue Crumble. For the recipe for blueberry corn meal muffin cake visit https://bit.ly/2NAdOBT.
Dorie’ s cheese cake with blue berry swirls
The headnote says, “Dorie Greenspan’s cheesecake is the perfect cheesecake, bar none (and I have tried a lot of them). One bite and you will start swooning over its sumptuous, creamy texture, whichis exactly what cheesecake is all about. Dorie is the popular, awardwinning author of at least thirteen books and a NewYork Timesmagazine contributing writer. I’ve topped her cake with a pretty blueberry swirl. You could use graham cracker crumbs for the crust, but I love the spiceinfused Belgian Biscoff or Speculoos cookies that are thankfully now available outside the confines of the airline aisles. If youhave aninstantread thermometer, it will help you judge the precise doneness of the center of the cake so it is perfect, just like Dorie herself.”
CRUST
Butter (for the pan)
13⁄4 cups Biscoff or Speculoos cookie crumbs
(froma7- to8-ouncepackage) 3 tablespoons granulated sugar Pinch of fine sea salt
4 tablespoons( 1⁄2 stick) unsaltedbutter, melted
BLUE BERRY SWIRL
11⁄4 cups fresh or frozen wild blue berries
1⁄4 cup granulated sugar Pinch of fine sea salt 1⁄2 teaspoon tapioca flour or corn starch
1 table spoon lemon juice
FILLING
2 pounds (4[8-ounce] packages) creamcheese, at room temperature
11⁄3 cups granulated sugar
1⁄2 teaspoon fine sea
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2⁄3 cups our cream
2⁄3 cup heavy whip ping cream
Crust instructions: Butter a 9x23⁄ 4inch springform pan. Have on hand a rimmed baking sheet.
Ina medium bowl, stir the crumbs, sugar, and salt together. Add the melted butter and thoroughly mix it into the crumbs. Transfer the crumbs to the pan and use your fingers to press them into the bottom and half way up the sides of the pan. Place the pan in the freezer while you heat the oven (or cover and freeze for upto 2 months).
Center a rackin the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350degrees. Set the cake pan on the baking sheet and bake the crust for 10 minutes. Remove and set aside to cool while you make Blueberry the filling. swirl instructions: Ina small saucepan, stir the blueberries, sugar, salt, and tapioca flour or cornstarch together. Set the pan over medium heat and bring the berries to a simmer, stirring often. Stir and cook for 1 minute, or until the mixture thickens. Add the lemon juice.
Remove the pan from the heat and cool briefly. Pour the berry mixture into a blender and puree until very smooth. Refrigerate while you make the filling.
Filling instructions: Have on hand a roasting pan that is large enough to hold the cake pan with 2 inches of space all around it. Wrap the bottom and sides of the cake pan with foil. Bring the Inan oven temperature electric mixer to fitted 325 degrees. with the paddle attachment on medium speed, beat the cream cheese for 4minutes, or until soft and creamy. With the mixer running, stream in the sugar and the vanilla. cream salt and cheese beat for is light another and fluffy. 4minutes, Beat in or until the
On eat a time, add the eggs, beating a full minute after each addition so the filling is well aerated. Reduce the mixer speed to lowand mix in the sour cream and heavy cream. Remove the bowl from the mixer stand and give it a good stir to incorporate any unmixed batter at the bottom of the bowl.
Place the cake pan in the roasting pan. Pour the filling into the pan. With a teaspoon, gently dollop the blueberry puree on top of the batter, spacing the dollops randomly. Use the point of a skewer or a toothpick to swirl the blueberries into a pretty pattern.
Fill a pitcher with the hottest tap water you have. Slide the oven rack about a quarter of the way out and set the roasting pan on it. Pour the hotwater into the roasting pan so it comes halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Gently slide the rack back into the oven.
Bake the cake for 1 hour. Check the top of the cheesecake. If it has started to brown, place a sheet of foil loosely on top. Continue to bake for another 30minutes, or until the sides are puffed and the center of the cheesecake is only very slightly wobbly—the center should register 150oF to 155oF on an instantread thermometer. (Total baking time is 11⁄2 hours.) Turn off the oven, open the door, and prop it open with a wooden spoon. Let the cake cool for 1 hour in the water bath in the oven.
Remove the roasting pan from the oven and lift the cake pan out of the water and wipe the bottom dry. Remove the foil and transfer the pan to a cooling rack. Let it cool to room temperature.
When completely cool, cover the cake loosely with foil and chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
To serve, unlatch the spring and lift off the sides. Transfer the cake to a serving plate. Makes one 9inch cake
Black-and-blue crumble
The headnote says, “Juicy plums— any kind will do here— are one of my favorite fruits for baking for their sweettart juiciness, and combined with blueberries and blackberries, they make a can’tstopeatingit casual dessert. I always think that a crumble is as good as a pie, but without pie anxiety. Serve it warm or cold, with or without ice cream or a drizzle of heavy cream. Make adouble batch of the topping if you like, and freeze half of it so youhave a headstart on the next crumble youmake. And yes, youwill want to make it again.”
FOR THE TOPPING
2⁄3 cup all-purpose flour
1⁄4 cup packed light brownsugar
1⁄8 teaspoon fine salt 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
6 tablespoons rolled oats
FOR THE FILLING
Butter (for the dish)
3 tablespoon slight brownsugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1⁄2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1⁄4 teaspoon fine salt
5-- 6 plums (about 11⁄2 pounds), halved, pitted, and cut into wedges
2 cups cultivated fresh blue berries or 3 cups fresh or frozen Maine wild blue berries
1 cup fresh black berries
1 cup heavy cream or 1 pint vanilla ice cream( for serving)
Topping instructions: Inan electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on low speed, mix the flour, sugar, salt, and cinnamon until combined.
With the mixer on lowspeed, gradually add the butter pieces and mix for 2 to 3minutes, or until they are pea size. Add the oats and mix to combine.
Filling instructions: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter a shallow8or 9inch square baking dish. Have on hand a baking sheet.
Ina large bowl, mix the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt until blended. Add the plums, blueberries, and blackberries to the bowl and toss until combined.
Transfer the fruit to the baking dish. Spread the oatmeal topping over it. Set the dish ona baking sheet. Bake for 45 50minutes, or until the fruit juices bubble and the topping is golden. Serve warm with cream or ice cream. Serves 4.
Culinary calendar
⏩Brew fest at the Beach sponsored by the Rotary Club of New London Sept. 6, 69 p.m. Ocean Beach Park, 1225 Ocean Ave., New London, $25 in advance, $30 at door, proceeds benefit Camp Rotary. Features tastings of more than 150 beers, brewfriendly food, pizza, chili, wine tasting and live music. Info at newlondonrotary.org. Tickets athttps://bit.ly/2Z2f87k.
⏩Hoptoberfest, Sept. 7, 15p.m, Rotary Pavilion at Shelton’s Riverwalk, 100 Canal St., Shelton, $35, $40 at the door. Beer sampling, food from area businesses and live ’80s music from PopRocks. Tickets and info facebook.com/SheltonHoptoberfest.
⏩Beer& Oysters On The Sound, sponsored by New Haven Land Trust, Sept .15,47 p.m ., Carousel at Lighthouse Point Park, New Haven. Beer from a selection of local breweries, Copps Island oysters, live music, food trucks, carousel rides and more. $40 in advance. Tickets at https://bit.ly/2TA9rru.
⏩ “Chefs of Our Kitchen” presents Rinku Bhattacharya, chef and author of “Instant Indian: Classic Foods from Every Region of India Made Easy in the Instant Pot.” Sept. 18, 6:15 reception; 7 p.m. dinner. Gateway Community College, 20 Church St., New Haven, 2032852617. $65 includes a signed copy of her book, reception and dinner; benefits Gateway Community College Foundation. Validated parking in Temple Street garage. Tickets athttps://bit.ly/2zTfUWf.