Fresh Blueberry Pie with a Lemon Curd Cream

 

Here’s another recipe from The Currabinny Cookbook, by James Kavanagh and William Murray. The authors say that since blueberries burst and fall apart when cooked, most recipe add a lot of sugar to compensate; but in this recipe, only about a quarter of the blueberries are cooked, and the rest are folded in fresh, so the blueberry flavor remains the star of the show! The lemon curd is just extra, though I liked that it wasn’t overly sweet, either. This was a good dessert! (Note that I again modified the recipe a bit, for North American cooks and lactose-intolerant eaters.)

For the shortcrust pastry
240 g all-purpose flour
1 pinch sea salt
2 tsp. sugar
180 g (¾ cup) cold lactose-free butter
1 egg, separated
1-2 Tbsp. chilled water

For the fresh blueberry filling
600 g blueberries, divided
120 mL water, plus an extra 2 Tbsp.
2 Tbsp. corn starch
1 Tbsp. lemon juice (zest it first and reserve the zest for the lemon curd cream)
1 pinch sea salt

For the lemon curd cream
50 g (3 Tbsp.) butter
100 g sugar
1 pinch sea salt
2 lemons, zested and juiced (I only had 1 big lemon)
2 eggs + 1 egg yolk, beaten
110 g (½ cup) lactose-free cream cheese (or mascarpone)
2 Tbsp. icing sugar


For the shortcrust pastry
Sift the flour for the pastry into a large bowl (I always do this in the food processor) and add the salt and sugar. Cut the cold butter into cubes and rub into the flour with your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk (reserving the white) and just enough of the water to bring the mixture together into a ball. (The authors like it as short as possible, so don’t worry if it’s a little crumbly and hard to handle.) Shape into a thick disc, cover in plastic wrap, and put in the fridge for 30 to 40 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 °F and set the oven rack to a low position.

Roll out your chilled pastry on a lightly floured surface into a 5mm-thick round. Flip this on to a 25cm (9 or 10 inch) tart tin with a removable bottom, patching any pieces that have crumbled or torn. You want to make the walls of the pastry come slightly over the side of the tart tin.

Line the pastry crust with baking parchment, fill with baking beads, and place in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, lift out the paper and beads, prick the base with a fork and return to the oven for 10 minutes, until golden. Let the pie crust cool in its tin for 3 minutes on a rack, then brush with the reserved egg white. Remove the pie crust from the tin and place on a plate.

For the fresh blueberry filling
Put 150 g of the blueberries in a saucepan with 120 mL of water, cover, and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the corn starch and 2 tablespoons of water.

When the blueberries and water have come to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer, stirring constantly until the blueberries start to burst and the juices begin to thicken. Add the corn starch mixture, sugar, lemon juice, and salt. Simmer for 1 minute until the mixture becomes translucent. Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining blueberries.

Spoon the mixture into the pie crust and allow to sit for 2 hours.

For the lemon curd cream
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over very low heat. Add the sugar, salt, lemon zest and juice, then add the beaten eggs. Stir carefully with s straight-ended wooden spatula until the mixture coats the back of it. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Put the cream cheese into a bowl, add the lemon curd, soft over the icing sugar, and gently mix together. You can spoon the mixture on top of the pie or serve it on the side.