Blueberry Crostata and Miami Beach

I wish I could tell you I made this crostata with blueberries we just finished picking. I wish I could say they were from a local farmer’s market. The truth is, I found them at Costco the other day. And they were REALLY good.

Not as good as the blueberries my mother-in-law’s neighbor brought us while we were in Italy one day last month. But close. Really close.

So we have gorgeous cousins visiting from Italy for a month. One cousin’s father has about a dozen pastry shops in Italy. I’m trying to impress them. I think it’s working.

They dig my blueberry crostata. They said they were looking forward to eating it for breakfast the next day more than they were looking forward to a shopping trip at the mall.

My crostata trumped Abercrombie & Fitch. For at least five minutes. 

Today I jogged/ran/walked/sweat for about 30 minutes. Then we went to the mall. Yes, the mall. I had to train for a mall expedition with an 18 year old, 19 year old, and my two kids. It’s a good thing I trained. We were there for hours and it seemed more like days.

It’s not easy baking with a pasta frolla in this intense heat. Yes, I have working air conditioning. You have to move really fast with the dough.

Blueberry Crostata
serves approx 6-8

Pasta Frolla recipe:

300 grams (10.54 ounces)pastry flour
200 grams (7.025 ounces) unsalted butter
100 grams (3.512 ounces) sugar
1 whole egg and 1 yolk ( 60 grams eggs)

dough directions:

In the bowl of a food processor, add the flour and sugar and process a
few times to mix together. Next add the butter and pulse a few times
until the
mixture looks like wet sand. Add the egg and yolk and process a few
seconds more until the dough forms (this should be about 5-7 more
pulses). Be sure to not overprocess the dough.

Dump the dough from the food processor bowl onto a lightly floured
counter. Form the dough into a disk and chill in the refrigerator for
about an hour.

filling directions:

Bring all the filling ingredients to a boil in a heavy medium pot. Heat
to boiling over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Continue boiling
about 5 minutes longer, stirring occasionally, until cranberries begin
to pop. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Don’t worry if every single
cranberry does not completely pop. Set the sauce aside to cool.

baking the crostata:

Preheat oven to 375°F with a foil-lined large baking sheet on middle rack.

When dough is nicely chilled, remove from the refrigerator. Roll out the
dough between 2 sheets of plastic wrap into a 13-inch round about 1/8
thick.

Spray an 11-inch fluted tart pan with removable bottom with baking
spray. Gently wrap the dough over the rolling pin and place it over the
tart pan; release the rolling pin and let the dough fall into the tart
pan. Press the dough softly into the bottom of the tart pan. If some of
the dough breaks while you press it into the tart pan, that’s not a
problem. Simply piece the dough together. Press the sides of the dough
about 1/2 inch up the side of the tart pan. The rim of the tart should
be lined with a slightly thicker layer of pastry than the bottom  (about
1/4-inch thick). Cut off the extra dough from the sides and keep these
excess pieces to make the lattice topping. Place this tart pan in the
refrigerator for about 30 minutes (or even longer if necessary) to
chill.

When the dough is chilled and ready to fill, remove the tart pan from
the refrigerator and prick the pastry bottom with a fork a few times.

For the blueberry filling:
1 pound blueberries, picked over, washed, dried
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

In a small bowl, whisk a tablespoon of water with the cornstarch and set it aside. In a medium saucepan, combine 1/2 lb. blueberries, sugar and 1 tablespoon water.  Bring to a boil.

When blueberries reach a boil, reduce heat and simmer, stirring, until blueberries pop and mixture begins to thicken – about 3 minutes.

We decided to take the drive down to Miami Beach last Sunday. Lord, was it HOT! You could see the steam coming off of the sidewalks. You could see the full moon. Wait! It was the middle of the day! Well, let’s just say there were a lot of women scantily clad. When did dental-floss thin g-strings become in fashion again? That’s all I want to know.

We’re not taking the kids to Miami Beach for maybe a few more years. There’s Gabriella with her Italian cousins.

We finally stopped by a pizzeria we’ve heard about and have been wanting to visit. We agreed that we didn’t even have pizza like this last month in Italy. It was incredible. Even the cousins said it was incredible.

If you are going to Miami, stop by this place. The pizza was light and airy. It wasn’t crispy. If you like a crispy pizza, you may not say, “This is the best pizza.” Every time I closed my eyes and took a bite of the pizza, I was in Napoli.

Thank you for stopping by. Hope you’re having a fabulous week! I’m sorry I’ve not been too active visiting blogs these last few weeks. I’ll have more time in a few weeks when our cousins go back to Italy and the kids go back to school.