Driving back from The Stratford Festival on Sunday amongst endless grain fields stood a blueberry farm. Of course, I had to stop. The farmer convinced me that I wanted to buy all the rest of his bounty since he wanted to close for the day. A deal was struck for the rest of his gorgeous berries. I felt rather mutinous since I was buying ingredients for the refreshments for my son Joel’s concert. www.joelgarten.com and he always detested blueberries!
At home laid the flat out on the kitchen counter so I could admire them when from out of the corner of my eye I saw Joel devouring the berries. Ahoy! No more Mother’s mutiny on the blueberry bounty. I could carry on with my blueberry dessert menu.
Amaretto Ricotta Blueberry Cake and Blueberry Sorbet
For the blueberry sorbet, Make a simple syrup of 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup water, heat until sugar melts. I picked a large bunch of pineapple sage and one of lemon verbena which I steeped for 10 minutes in the hot simple syrup. Remove the herbs and add 4 cups of fresh blueberries. Cook very briefly, maybe 5 minutes. When cool blend in a blender until smooth. Refrigerate until you are ready to make the sorbet. I use a Donvier Ice Cream Maker. About an hour before serving the sorbet take the ice cream maker out of the freezer and pour the blueberries into the cylinder and start churning every few minutes until the sorbet is the desired consistency. Serve a scoop with the blueberry cheesecake.
Amaretto Blueberry Cheesecake, I created this original on the morning of the concert, so make it in the morning of the evening you plan to serve it. A light summery cheesecake.
Prepare a 10-inch springform pan lining the bottom of the pan with a circular piece of parchment paper to fit and then grease the inside of the pan.
Crush 2 packages of amaretto cookies [200 grams each] into fine crumbs.
melt 1/4 lb butter
mix melted butter with cookie crumbs and then press evenly into the bottom and up the sides of the pan
in the mixing bowl of an electric mixer; place 4 cups ultra-smooth ricotta, 4 cups sour cream, 1/2 cup sugar, vanilla to taste, and 6 eggs. Mix until smooth.
Pour into prepared crust and put into a preheated 375 degree oven
I put it in at 12:15, checking it every once in a while until it was a lovely brown on top and a cake tester inserted in the middle came out clean. How long was that? As I so studiously looked at the clock when I put it in, I completely forgot to check it when I took it out! But have the confidence to make this cake as I didn’t follow a recipe and never made it before and it was sensational!
Let cool on the counter, when cooled run a knife around the edges of the crust. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Remove from the fridge and carefully release the latch from the pan, remove sides and serve.