jphilg: Oh my, oh my - we loved your pie! :)

[Natasha]

Well, not a pie, but your blueberry mascarpone tart, but you get the idea. I made this on Friday and we were all very pleased by its simple goodness. A perfect summer dessert. I'll be making this one over and over. Another thing I think I'll do sometime is make the filling and swirl it with varied berries for parfaits, when I don't feel like bothering with the crust or want a "spoon dessert".

Thanks again for posting the recipe! Here it is, if anyone else is interested (all notes are Jen's).

Jen's Blueberry Mascarpone Tart

1 10-inch sweet tart crust (shortbread crust...I use either Barefoot Contessa tart crust (it is in the recipe for Raspberry Tart in the first cookbook) or Martha Stewart Sugar Crust (In the light green compilation book).

8 ounces Marscapone cheese (or sub cream cheese if the budgest is tight)
1/4 cup half and half
1/4 cup sugar
Zest of one lemon
Juice of half a lemon

1 pint blueberries

Beat together ingredients from cheese through lemon juice...takes about 5 or 6 minutes to get smooth, thick, and creamy.

Spread into cooled tart shell

Painstakingly arrange washed, dried blueberries in concentric circles, or skatter by handfuls and claim a postmodern aesthetic.

Serves 12 (although I have seen 4 people polish it off)

[Scout]

I made this a few weeks ago. After two attempts the first failed and still not sure what happend and the second one turned out perfect. I agree that it is the perfect summer dessert and it is delicious. I made mine with bluberries and rasberries.
Natasha-great idea to use as a parfait (especially when short on time).
Thanks Jen for a wonderful recipe.

Anne

[aggie94]

I'm bumping up this thread from last year to tell Jen that I loved her tart!! :)

I had leftover mascarpone cheese and fat-free half-and-half to use up, and a search turned up this recipe. I actually took Natasha's suggestion of making this into a parfait, since I didn't feel like dealing with the crust. I picked up little baskets of fresh blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries from Central Market, and the rest of the stuff I had on hand. OH MY. This was WONDERFUL -- light (tasting, not calorically :o), lemony, and refreshing. DH and BIL loved it and were sad that there wasn't more. I will probably pick up the ingredients to make this again before berry season is over.

[jphilg]

Oh yay! I am so excited that you like it! I don't think I saw this thread when it first was posted, so I am feeling all warm and fuzzy reading it today.

[Canice]

This sooooo goes to the top of my list!! Ooo, I think I'll make it tomorrow! (Now I need a "happy dance" smiley!)

[syzygy]

Looks really delish, and I have some beautiful Maine blueberries and a brand new tart pan just crying out to be used!:D Thanks for bringing this up here!!

Would someone mind posting a crust recipe for this? I don't have either Martha's or the Contessa's cookbook :o

[jphilg]

Here is a great rich shortbread tart shell (cribbed from epicurious.com's Blueberry Buttermilk Tart, which is my other favorite thing to do with blueberries). Very tried and true, and if you have mild pastry deficiency and can't properly roll crust (like me :( ) you can pat the whole thing into the tart pan.

Tart crust:

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
1 large egg yolk, beaten with 2 tablespoons ice water
raw rice for weighting the shell


In a bowl stir together the flour, the sugar, and the salt, add the butter, and blend the mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Add the yolk mixture, toss the mixture until the liquid is incorporated, and form the dough into a ball. Dust the dough with flour and chill it, wrapped in plastic wrap, for
1 hour. Roll out the dough 1/8 inch thick on a floured surface, fit it into a 10-inch tart pan with a removable fluted rim, and chill the shell for at least 30 minutes or, covered, overnight. Line the shell with foil, fill the foil with the rice, and bake the shell in the middle of a preheated 350°F. oven for
25 minutes. Remove the foil and rice carefully, bake the shell for 10 to 15 minutes more, or until it is golden, and let it cool in the pan on a rack.


Jen's notes: Make this baby in a food processor, pat it into the pan, and then chill in the freezer for 20-30 mins. Speeds the whole process up without sacrificing texture, because this is a French sable style crust that doesn't flake. So no need to create butter-flour laminate layers. Sometimes I need to cover the rim with foil to get the center firm and golden without burning the edges.

[Natasha]

Ah yes, this is a wonderful gem. :) I didn't end up making it with other berries this year, but remembered it the other day, now that blueberries are so plentiful. Maybe later this week I'll make another one!

Thanks for bumping it up, Eva, so others can enjoy Jen's masterpiece too!!

Natasha

[lisas3575]

This and the smoked salmon pizza used up my remaining Mascarpone. This is sooooo yummy! I did the parfaits too, and doubled the blueberries. Thanks, Jen!

[lorilei]

mmm... so, Natasha... Eva... how many did this serve in YOUR houses??!! :D

[aggie94]

Three. :eek: :o

I had less than 8 ounces of mascarpone, though, and skipped the crust. But yeah, I divided the filling among three parfait glasses, layering it with about 2 pints' worth of berries. They were BIG desserts but we still managed to polish them off. :o

[Natasha]

About six, if I recall correctly, but we all would gladly have eaten more. :)

[Kismet]

Just bumping up an old thread to say another big thanks to Jen for this recipe! It's been in my "to try" pile for FAR too long. I made it for a co-worker's birthday today, and everyone is loving it. They don't have to know how easy it was to put together! :) It really is the perfect dessert to showcase the amazing blueberries my mom and I picked last weekend.