Tarts can be made ahead, which makes entertaining much easier. But the real beauty of this crostata is that the blueberry filling is the star, making it a great way to show off those wonderful summery flavours.
Ingredients
Hazelnut ice-cream
Shortcrust pastry
Method
Main
1.For hazelnut ice-cream, bring milk and cream to the boil in a large saucepan. Whisk yolks and sugar in an electric mixer until pale and fluffy (2-4 minutes), then gradually pour in hot milk mixture, stirring to combine. Return mixture to pan and stir continuously over medium heat until mixture thickly coats the back of a spoon (10-15 minutes). Transfer to a heatproof bowl placed over ice, stir occasionally until chilled (30-40 minutes), then fold in hazelnut and freeze in an ice-cream machine. Makes 1.5 litres.
2.For shortcrust pastry, beat butter in an electric mixer until pale, add icing sugar and yolks and beat to combine, then add flour and vanilla seeds and stir to combine. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate to rest (30 minutes).
3.Roll out two-thirds of pastry to 5mm thick on a lightly floured surface, line a 24cm tart ring, trim edges, then refrigerate to rest (30 minutes). Roll out remaining pastry to 5mm thick and cut into 3cm strips with a serrated cutter. Refrigerate until required.
4.Preheat oven to 170C. Combine blueberries, sugar, flour, lemon rind and vanilla seeds in a bowl, toss to combine and place in tart base, then arrange strips of remaining pastry to create a lattice pattern on top. Brush with eggwash, scatter with extra sugar and bake until golden and bubbling (1-1¼ hours). Serve warm or at room temperature with hazelnut ice-cream.
Drink Suggestion: Young Rutherglen topaque. Drink suggestion by Max Allen
Notes