Sometimes She Bakes: Blueberry Tart

Blueberry Tart
Inspired by a recipe for a Berry Tart
with fresh ginger and a rosemary crust
that I found on
Ilva's Tuscan blog,
Lucullian Delights.

Ilva is a Swedish native who moved to Tuscany
some 14 years ago. She has been tempting me
with her recipes and photographs
ever since the very first time I set eyes on her blog.

I am one of those foodie magazine readers
who admire the great ideas and foods
professional chefs come up with,
but rarely find within themselves the will or discipline
to actually follow through with a new recipe.

Not so with Ilva's,
especially when she comes up with recipes that
include saffron, cardamom, fresh ginger,
and/or rosemary!
Those spices act like catchwords,
making it almost mandatory for me
to at least try to find the time
to cook whatever dish Ilva has come up with
(think "Saffron Yogurt with Spicy Honey and Puffed Quinoa" - sounds like
a food symphony, doesn't it?
Click here for the recipe, but please, do so
at your own risk!)

This past Sunday,
she did it again!
"1 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped,"
"fresh ginger, about the size of an unshelled hazelnut and finely chopped" -
and who am I,
to resist such utterly tempting ingredients?
Imagine my despair,
when I found my cupboard almost bare,
no blackberries, no raspberries,
no almond flour!
Even the small basket of red currants,
which my mother had so lovingly picked for me,
gone! Oh, woe is me,
I had given it to a friend,
only the night before!

Oh well, I said,
"if life gives you a lemon,
make a lemonade,"
if Ilva gives you a recipe,
and you have about half of the items
on her ingredients list in your pantry,
you ought to at least try
to come up with substitutes
for the missing ones.
And so I did.
Here's what I came up with:

100g Yoghurt butter
50g sugar

1 large egg
1 tbsp. finely chopped rosemary

50g toasted hazelnuts,
finely ground

mixed well

225g spelt flour
Worked in with a cooking spoon,
then put dough to rest.

For the custard,
200g fresh ricotta cheese
3 tbsp. heavy cream
3 eggs
1 tbsp. grated ginger root

zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp. sugar

1 small can of apricot halves
3 handfuls fresh blueberries

1 handful of almonds,
cut lengthwise into sticks

Bon Appetit! :-)