The pick-your-own farms that litter the Delaware river bed are in full season.The fertile land holds many of my earliest childhood memories that is the joy of gorging yourself in a field of fresh ripe berries that are just waiting to be eaten.
This weekend my sister and I picked our hearts out at Phillips Farm in Milford, New Jersey. This sprawling and vast 200 acre farm sits above the mighty Delaware River and offers an amazing selection of pick-your-own strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries & peaches
After picking our black raspberries and blueberries, we headed home to help prepare for a feast that night, a celebration of my sisters return to the States. Her father, a veteran pastry chef turned IT professional, had been preparing food for the occasion and smoking a brisket all day. I decided to make a dessert from the fresh berries we had picked that day for the occasion and came up with this recipe.
The tart was a lovely, indulgent and refreshing finale to the mass feast dubbed 'Lynchfeast' and was shared in the wee hours of the night over candle light on the patio overlooking Lynch creek where the feast was held. The tart was devoured that night and no evidence remained except the berry blood stained grins that were on the faces of the satisfied friends and family.
Local Mixed Berry & Lemon Thyme Tart
Crust: Basic Puff Pastry Crust molded into a 9inch pie round. For this particular crust I used a homemade premade dough that my pastry friend had in his fridge. You can purchase similar crusts in the freezer section or use a basic recipe from sites like this.
Filling:
2 1/2 cups fresh berries
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup sugar
1 bunch lemon thyme, tied into a bundle and removed after simmering
Lemon zest to taste
Wash and pick over the berries. Simmer 2 cups of fresh berries with thyme bundle and lemon zest in sauce pan for about 15 minutes, or until berries have released juices.Add 1/2 cup uncooked berries and allow mixture to cool. Add mixture to your pre-baked pastry crust. Let tart cool in the frige for 1-6 hours. Enjoy!!!
**For this recipe I used a quart of blakcberries that had turned mostly to mush from the hot sun, and 2 cups fresh black raspberry and blueberries. If your berries are more watery than you anticipated feel free to use a bit of jam to give some body to the tart.