Blueberry Tarte

Last weekend was not good. It simply wasn’t a real weekend. I had classes on Saturday and had to wake up at 7 am. After classes I had to finish a presentation. Then, on Sunday, I revised the presentation. Weekend over.
 

I got in the mood to watch the movie My Blueberry Nights in the evening on Saturday, that we had bought some time before. It’s a quiet movie, starring Norah Jones (Elizabeth) and Jude Law (Jeremy). Further two of my most favourite actresses: Rachel Weisz and Natalie Portman. I enjoyed the movie. 

Inspired by Elizabeth eating blueberry pie, I wanted to bake one myself. I love blueberry pie so much and couldn’t understand why only a few people ordered it at Jeremy’s shop. Jeremy explains it this way:

"From my observations, sometimes it's better off not knowing, and other times there's no reason to be found. […] Hmm. It's like these pies and cakes. At the end of every night, the cheese cake and the apple pie are always completely gone. The peach cobbler and the chocolate mousse cake are nearly finished... but there's always a whole blueberry pie left untouched. […] There's nothing wrong with the blueberry pie. Just... people make other choices. You can't blame the blueberry pie, just... no one wants it." (© My Blueberry Nights)

I wanted blueberry pie! Desperately.
But eating it with vanilla ice cream at this time of the year, well… not good, I thought. So I did an alternative.
And my pie turned into a tarte. Why do tartes always look so beautiful?
 

For a 18cm tarte tin
 

base

• 300 grams flour
• Pinch of salt
• 140 grams cold butter
• 1 TL Vanilla Bean Paste (or seeds of a half vanilla pod)
• 1 egg yolk
• 6-7 tbsp cold water 

Divide egg yolk and egg white (you can freeze egg whites for later).
Put a bowl on a scale so that you can measure everything right away. Sieve the flour into the bowl, add a pinch of salt and cut your cold butter in cubes into the flour-salt-mixture. Add I tsp vanilla bean paste and start to knead (you can put your hands under running cold water before you start, if you want). When the mixture resembles bread crumbs, add the egg yolk and knead ahead. Gradually add the cold water, until all the flour is incorporated into the dough. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it out. Lay your tarte tin with it, prick it with a fork, line with parchment paper and pour your baking beans over it. Bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, then remove baking beans and parchment paper and bake for another 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
You can roll your pastry as thick/thin as you wish. I like the base not too thin, but others don’t, so work it they way you like it.
 

pudding or custard cream カスタードクリーム

• 125 ml whole milk (or soy milk)
• 1 ½ egg yolk
• 13 grams flour
• 1 tbsp sugar (if you use soy milk, then skip it!)
• ½ vanilla pod 

Pour milk into a pot, deseed your vanilla pod and add them with the vanilla pod to the milk. Heat the vanilla-milk until it almost reaches the fever pitch, then remove from heat. Mix egg yolks, sugar and flour (sieved!) together until smooth. Using a whisk, pour the milk gradually into the egg-mixture, stirring all the time.
Pass the mixture through a sieve back into the pot. Heat the pot again, stirring all the time until it thickens. Remove from heat and leave to cool slightly.
Spread your pudding over your tarte base.
 

blueberry top

• approx. 380 grams blueberries (save a small handful for decoration!)
• approx. 1/8 l water
• zest and juice of a small lemon
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp cornflour (I always use the japanese katakuriko 片栗粉)

Put half of the blueberries with the water in a pod and bring to boil. Leave to boil for about 4 minutes. Add sugar, lemon zest and juice and reduce the heat. Dissolve the cornflour with a little water and mix it into the blueberries. Cook until it thickens stirring regularly.
Spread the blueberry-marmalade over your pudding and the uncooked blueberries over it, pushing them slightly into the marmalade.
Leave to cool overnight. I decorated my tart with some further lemon zest.

Jeremy: "When I was little me mum used to take me to the park on weekends... 

She said if I ever got lost I had to stay in one place so that she'd find me."
Elizabeth: "Does that work?"
Jeremy: "Not really, She got lost once looking for me." (© My Blueberry Nights)

"A few years ago, I had a dream. It began in the summer and was over by the following spring. In between, there were as many unhappy nights as there were happy days. Most of them took place in this cafe. And then one night, a door slammed and the dream was over." (© My Blueberry Nights)

Have you ever been inspired by a movie to cook or bake something? If yes, what was it and by what movie? I’d like to hear some experiences. (^^)