Orr column: Blueberry galette easy — and healthy — summer dessert

The blueberry bushes in northeastern North Carolina are still bursting with their sweet, deep blue fruit.

If you are not fortunate enough to have your own berry bushes, or the squirrels and birds have depleted your harvest, you can still find ripe, local blueberries here in Edenton.

Both the Edenton Farmer’s Market and Bunch’s Produce Stand on Rock Hock Road offer fresh-off-the-bush berries. You can also find them at many of the local farm stands that dot northeastern North Carolina. Even our Food Lion may occasionally have a few containers of North Carolina blueberries.

Blueberry season is a favorite of mine and I try to use these little berries whenever I can. From breakfast to desserts to a surprising addition to a savory salad or sauce for an entrée, there are many ways to incorporate this healthy fruit into your diet.

Brightly colored berries are loaded with antioxidants and can help heart health, bone strength, skin health, blood pressure, diabetes management, cancer prevention, and mental health.

A quick summer dessert that’s rustic and tasty is a galette or crostata. Both terms refer to a free-form pie: galette is French while crostata is Italian. These rustic pies can be either sweet or savory depending on your mood and your filling.

To make a galette simply roll pie dough into a circle and top with your desired filling, and roughly fold the edges inward an inch or so to envelope all the tasty goodness while baking. Its effortless simplicity in both appearance and taste creates a charming course for any meal.

This week I have included my recipe for blueberry galette. Enjoy!

Pie dough

For one 9-inch s-crust pie

Ingredients

• 1¼ cups all-purpose flour

• 1½ tablespoons sugar

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• ¼ cup ice-cold water, more if needed

• 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter

• 2 tablespoons cold shortening or lard

Preparation

1. Whisk together dry ingredients. Add small pieces of butter and shortening and cut into dry ingredients until crumbly, using a pastry blender, mixer with a paddle attachment, or a food processor. Mixture should still have small pieces of butter the size of a pea.

2. Add cold water and blend into mixture to form a dough. Place dough ball in plastic wrap and chill for 15 minutes, or until used.

Blueberry galette

Ingredients

• 3 cups blueberries

• ⅓ cup sugar, plus more

• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

• 1 teaspoon lemon zest

• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

• ½ teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla

• 1 egg

• 1 tablespoon water

• 1 recipe single-crust pie dough

Preparation

1. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Prepare the dough as directed and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

3. In a large bowl, toss together the blueberries, sugar, salt, cornstarch, vanilla, lemon zest, and juice. Gently stir to coat the blueberries. Set aside.

4. On a floured surface, roll out the chilled pie dough into a 12-inch circle. Transfer dough to the parchment-lined pan.

5. Mound the blueberry filling in the middle of the dough circle. Fold and pinch the dough up and inward, so it covers at least 2 inches of the filling. Chill the unbaked galette for at least 15 minutes in the freezer.

6. While the galette is chilling, beat the egg and water together. Before baking brush the edges with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.

7. Bake for 20 minutes, and then reduce the oven temperature to 350°F and bake for 20-30 minutes more. Cover if too brown. Serve warm or at room temperature with home-made sweetened whipped cream or ice cream.

If you have a cooking question, contact me at cher.orr@gmail.com and I’d be happy to assist!