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Blueberry Crostata with Lemon Ice Cream

Blueberry Crostata with Lemon Ice Cream
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Photo Courtesy of Fine Cooking Magazine. All rights reserved.

Once again, I am sharing one of Andrew’s great summer desserts.   Surely one of summer’s great pleasures are its fruits and berries, especially when they are local.   And what can compare to any fruit dessert coupled with ice cream, especially when it is homemade.  I like to think that Andrew ought to be getting a cut out of the sales of Cuisinart Ice Cream Makers he has recommended to friends.  At $60, you can’t imagine how much pleasure you’ll bring to summer when you buy one.  It’s the best possible rainy-day activity for young children.  It’s not a bad one for grown-ups either.  And the creamy perfection of pure, simple homemade ice cream makes anything else taste somehow not as good, and truly store-bought.  

         This combination came from our friends at Fine Cooking who seem to have provided us with a bumper crop of great things to eat this summer.  This is best started early in the day since the lemon ice cream will need a minimum of 4 hours in the freezer, once it’s churned.   Then you make a free-form canvas out of pastry on which you mound the berries.  You can be as rustic as all get out with this one.  It’s so much simpler to achieve than a regular pie. You’ll note that this recipe makes 2-8 inch crostatas to serve 8 people. If you are serving a smaller crowd, still make the full amount of dough. You can freeze it and make another one later in the week. While you chill the dough is the perfect time to make the ice cream.  Once that’s done you can turn your attention back to the making of the crostata.  Note that Andrew uses a French rolling pin which he swears by because you have more control than the old-fashioned American kind.  The berries go on, the edges get folded over the berries.  The Turbinado (or sugar in the raw) gives the pastry a wonderful crunchy sweetness. Then the pastry goes into the oven.  It takes about an hour for the cake to cook.  You can either wait another 15 minutes and serve it then. Or you can cool it completely.  You can even reheat it in a 200 degree oven for 10 minutes and then serve with a scoop of your homemade ice cream.  Now take a bow.  Here are the recipes:
 


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