Four for the Fourth: Berry Tarts and Major Lazers, Art Brut, Future of the Left, and Black Moth Super Rainbow

Sometimes when I wake up in the morning I make a list of things I want to accomplish that day. This helps me to focus on an arbitrary goal and complete tasks that I would otherwise avoid. My list for yesterday, the Fourth of July, was as follows:

• Buy a grill top accessory for my stove
  
• Get into a low speed chase with a stranger
• Suffer from a migraine
• Read a Jim Hightower article
• Watch a baseball game
  
• Finish J-Fur's scrumptious Blueberry-Raspberry Tart

In all honesty, when I woke up yesterday morning only one of these was on the list, the rest just sort of happened. Which made the Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute stationary? Why, finishing J-Fur's tart, of course.
The process of making the tart actually began on the first Saturday in May when J-Fur and I collected five pounds of blueberries from Glover's U-Pick Blueberry Farm in Plant City. It continued with a recipe in the July/August edition of Vegetarian Times for a creamy berry tart. As I mentioned before, J-Fur doesn't do squishy and creamy custard falls under that category. Instead she took over the reigns (I was only allowed to buy the tart pan and raspberries). This is what she came up with:

Blueberry-Raspberry Tart
Printable Version

CRUST:
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1½ Tbs granulated sugar
6 Tbs (¾ stick) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
½ tsp salt
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 egg yolk
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 Tbs ice water

FILLING:
3½ cups blueberries
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 Tbs (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 Tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice

TOPPING:
2 cups fresh raspberries
whipped cream or ice cream, optional

1. To prepare the crust: Place flour, sugar, butter, salt and lemon zest in a food processor; process until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Add the egg yolk. Turn the machine back on and add the lemon juice and water through the feed tube. Do it slowly and add only enough for the dough to hold together. Form a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

2. Only a lightly floured surface roll the dough into a 14-inch circle. Line a 12 inch tart pan with a removable bottom with the dough; crimp the edges. Freeze the pan for 30 minutes.

3. Preheat oven to 425°F.

4. To prepare the filling: Toss blueberries, sugar, cinnamon, butter and lemon juice together. Put the filling into the tart shell making sure it is spread evenly over the crust.

5. Bake for 12 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350° F and bake about 10 minutes more (you want the berries to be soft). Cool completely.

6. Decorate the edge of the tart with a circle of raspberries. Cut into slices and serve. If desired top with whipped cream or ice cream.

Topping the dish with some sort of white cream (be it whipped or iced) makes the colors of this dessert red, white, and blue. Perfect for your Fourth of July party.

I passed on Lee Greenwood, Neil Diamond, and Ray Charles for my party soundtrack. Likewise to Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Aimee Mann, and Ani DiFranco. They have their time and place, just not there. My four for the fourth were:

Major Lazer-Keep it Going featuring Nina Sky & Ricky Blaze


Future of the Left-Arming Eritrea


Black Moth Super Rainbow-American Face Dust


Art Brut-DC Comics and Chocolate Milkshakes