Blueberry Cheese Tart

Farmer’s cheese is sometimes difficult to find. Ricotta works in a pinch, but it is possible to make it out of fresh buttermilk.

For the pastry:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (210 g)
1/4 cup sugar (55g)
1/2 tsp. baking powder
Pinch salt
1/2 cup butter, chilled (110g)
1 large egg, beaten with 2 tbs. cold water

Process the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a food processor with the steel blade until combined (a few seconds). Cut the butter into at least eight pieces, add, and pulse until combined. The consistency should be like coarse meal. Scrape the bowl and pulse one more time. Add the egg mixture and pulse until the dough clumps together. Gather the dough into a ball, flatten it into a disk about an inch and a half thick, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour.

On a lightly floured surface, unwrap the disk and roll it out to a 14-inch circle. Fit the circle into an ungreased 10-inch fluted tart pan. Press the sides gently into the fluted edge. Run the rolling pin around the edge to trim the excess dough neatly. Patch as necessary, then refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Remove the tart shell from the refrigerator, line it with foil, and fill with pie weights. (Anything works as a pie weight: dried beans, rice, etc. Cooking stores sell little steel things the size of chocolate chips. Without weights, the tart shell puffs up, blisters, and gets distorted but it’ still good.) Bake for about 10 minutes, then remove the weights and foil, and bake for another four minutes until golden. Remove and set aside for the filling.

Reduce the oven to 350°F.

For the filling:

Zest of one lemon
1/4 cup sugar (55g)
1 package farmer’s cheese (8 oz.)
2 large eggs
1 tbs. all-purpose flour
2 cups blueberries

Process lemon zest and sugar until there are no large grains of zest, maybe two minutes. Scrape down bowl, add the cheese and process until smooth, maybe half a minute. Add eggs and flour and process until smooth.

Spread the blueberries evenly in the tart shell and pour the cheese and egg mixture evenly over all. Bake in the center of the 350°F oven until set, about 30 minutes. Cool completely before cutting and serving.