Blueberry Galette

I look forward to blueberry season all year. 

It comes early in Georgia and the first few years that I lived here, I missed it completely.  The pick- your-own blueberry farm that I like to visit usually opens at the end of July and stays open for about 3-4 weeks.

Unfortunately, we were so busy this summer that I never made it out my favorite blueberry farm to pick berries this summer.  I was bummed when I found out that they closed the farm before I had a chance to get there.  Fortunately for me, there was another local farm that still had berries available for picking.   I was so excited that I didn't care that it was 98 degrees outside.  Courtney and I gathered up our buckets and headed out to the blueberry farm.

 When we got to the farm, we discovered that they also had pic-you- own blackberries.  BONUS!

Ben and Ryan gobbled up the blackberries within 2 days.  They were the biggest blackberries that I had ever seen.  Courtney and I ate lots of the blueberries and I froze what we didn't eat within 2 days. 

Do you know what I love about frozen blueberries?  Blueberry desserts. 

These mini blueberry galettes are the perfect way to enjoy fresh blueberries even when it's not blueberry season. 

They're super easy to put together, they're really tasty and they are the reason that I look forward to stocking my freezer with blueberries - all year. 

Mini Blueberry Galettes

• 1 package Storebought Pie Crust (2 Rounds Of Dough)
• 2 cups Blueberries (generous)
• 1/4 cup Sugar, Plus Extra For Sprinkling
• 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
• 1 whole Lemon
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• Pinch Of Salt
• 1 whole Egg
• 1 Tablespoon Water
• Whipped Cream or Ice Cream, For Serving

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.











Stir together blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, 1 teaspoon lemon zest, juice of half the lemon, vanilla, and salt in a bowl. Set it aside once it's all combined.









Unroll the two discs of dough. Using a 5-inch round pastry cutter (or you can trace a knife around a 5-inch bowl) cut three rounds of pastry from each disc. Re-roll the scraps and cut 2 more.

Place them on 2 baking sheets lined with a baking mat or parchment (4 rounds each pan).

Evenly distribute the blueberry mixture between the 8 discs (approximately 1/4 cup per round).

Gently fold the over the edges of each crust, folding the dough in on itself to create a small rim of crust.

Make an egg wash by beating together the egg and water. Brush edges of each pie with the egg wash and sprinkle the crust with sugar.

Bake for 15 minutes until golden and bubbly. Remove from the oven and allow pies to sit on the pan (they will leak a little juice while baking, but this is fine!) for 5 minutes.

Remove to a platter and allow to cool.

 Serve with whipped cream,

 Or ice cream.

Blueberry season may be over for 2014 but I've still got a few in my freezer for this winter.

Ciao!

Barcelona

Date night doesn't happen very often for us so we take full advantage of the opportunity when it comes along.   To be honest, most of the time when Ben and I can sneak away for a date, we don't go out to fancy restaurants.  It's more about spending time together than it is the food really - EXCEPT when my awesome brother gives us a gift card to Barcelona Wine Bar in Atlanta. 



It felt like an official date.  We got dressed up, we drove to downtown Atlanta, we had adult conversation without being interrupted while we ate tapas while sitting outside on the patio of a beautiful Spanish restaurant.  It was a wonderful date.

There was plenty on the menu to choose from.  Lots of tapas but some full meals as well.   We both ordered tapas - and plenty of them.  They all looked so good - it was hard to narrow down our choices to our favorite six! 

Before our tapas started to arrive, we were served warm, crusty bread and the best olive oil for dipping.  

These are the tapas that we ordered - and my humble review of each.

Spicy Eggplant Camponata
      If you like roasted vegetables, this one is for you.  Lots of fresh vegetables roasted with that   delicious olive oil and served with just the right amount of spice.

Manchego and Jamon Croquettes
     To be perfectly honest, these were the only thing that I didn't taste.  It's not because they don't sound good, just trying to avoid fried foods.  For what it's worth, they were on the table for less than 4 minutes before Ben had eaten them all.

Grilled Hanger Steak with Black Truffle Vinaigrette
    This was a standout dish among the tapas.  The steak was PERFECTLY cooked and that black truffle vinaigrette - killer.

Red Fish a la Plancha
     I'm not sure if I've ever even tasted Red Fish before but I can assure you that I've never had it like this.  It was outstanding. 

Mussels al Diablo
      The mussels were pretty spicy as you might expect from the name but they were so good that we ate every last one.  (And then mopped up the marinara sauce with our leftover bread.) 

 Lobster in a garlic, chive butter sauce.
     The lobster was good - slightly overdone which made it a bit chewy but the flavor was very fresh.  

And to finish off our meal - cappuccino and chocolate hazelnut indulgence with coconut ice cream and raspberry sauce.

I talked Ben into ordering this dessert for himself because it sounded so good.   My plan was to sip on my cappuccino while HE enjoyed dessert. Yea, that didn't happen.  I think I might have shared two bites of this my whole dessert with him.  It was sooooo good.  

  

At the end of the night, we felt like we tasted a lot different flavors without having to order a complete meal of each. We were perfectly full without feeling over stuffed.  We are definitely going to make a return trip to Barcelona Wine Bar. 

Thanks for the gift, Scott - we loved it.  

Ciao!