I'd never seen huckleberries live and in person before so when I spotted a "Huckleberries" sign at Needham's Market Garden Stand at the
Ottawa Farmers' Market in Brewer Park recently, I zoomed in for a
closer look.
Just last week I saw chefs on
the Food Network show, Chopped, use
them as a surprise ingredient in combination with octopus. Very weird!
Mr Needham's huckleberries were beautiful. They were shiny, fresh, dark purple, almost black, and very tempting. I was about to learn their deep, dark secret...
Before buying them, I asked for a taste and popped a few in my mouth.
What a mistake that was! They tasted awful. They also brought an unpleasant, astringent,
oily, spicy sensation to my mouth.
Then I did something I haven't done since I was 6 years old. I spit them out on the ground. In broad daylight. With other people standing around. I couldn't help it.
I'm not certain what Mr Needham thought about my breach of etiquette but the following week, I noticed that he'd placed a sign in front of his huckleberries that read, "Not to be Eaten Raw." I guess I wasn't the only one who had tried the darned things!
Instead of discouraging me, I was even more motivated to explore their attributes.
Once cooked, the unpleasant flavours disappeared and lovely, complex sweetness emerged. Redemption!
I think this recipe does the enigmatic huckleberry justice and brings out their unique flavour.
Once cooked, the unpleasant flavours disappeared and lovely, complex sweetness emerged. Redemption!
I think this recipe does the enigmatic huckleberry justice and brings out their unique flavour.
If
you don't have time to make the tarts you can still eat the curd on its
own. It's delicious on toasted baguette, scones, or straight from the spoon.
Who knew that something so delicious would come from something that tasted so bad?
Makes 10-12 Tartelettes
375°F/195°C
Equipment
Fine grater
10-12 2" (5cm) fluted tart tins
Round cookie cutter, 3" (8cms)
Rolling pin
Large fine meshed sieve
Small fine sieve
Potato masher
Hand held beaters or stand mixer
Parchment or waxed paper
Baking tray
Offset spatula
Optional: food processor with a food mill attachment or a food mill
2 Piping bags, each with a Wilton 2A plain tip (10mm)
Curd
1 pint huckleberries to make: 1/2 cup (120g) huckleberry purée
1/2 cup (120g) water
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon (20g) strained lemon juice
1/4 cup (50g) sugar
4 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
pinch of salt
Pastry
(pâte sucrée)
50g cold, unsalted butter
1/8 cup (25g) sugar
3/4 cup (100g) all purpose flour, sifted
⅛ teaspoon salt
1 small egg yolk or 1/2 large yolk
1/2 teaspoon cream
Whipped Cream
1/4 cup (57g) heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon (3g) sugar
Optional: dragées to top the tarts.
METHOD
Prepare the pastry
1. Mix together the egg yolk and cream. Set aside.
2. Using your hands or a food processor, mix the butter, salt, and sugar together into a paste. There shouldn't be any lumps of butter
visible. If you're using your hands, work quickly so you don't melt the
butter. Combine the butter and egg mixtures.
3. Mix the flour gently into the paste until the two are just combined. Don't overwork the dough or it will become tough.
4. Roll the dough between 2 sheets of waxed or parchment paper to 1/8" thick.
5. Remove the top paper and using your cookie cutter, make circles in the dough but don't remove the circles. Re-cover the rolled dough with the paper you removed earlier and place it in the fridge to firm up. Place your tart tins in the fridge at the same time.
3. Mix the flour gently into the paste until the two are just combined. Don't overwork the dough or it will become tough.
4. Roll the dough between 2 sheets of waxed or parchment paper to 1/8" thick.
5. Remove the top paper and using your cookie cutter, make circles in the dough but don't remove the circles. Re-cover the rolled dough with the paper you removed earlier and place it in the fridge to firm up. Place your tart tins in the fridge at the same time.
Prepare the huckleberry purée
1. Wash the huckleberries and cut off the tough stems. (it's OK to leave the small ones that attached directly to the berries)
2. Place the huckleberries and 1/4 cup water in a saucepan. Cover the saucepan and cook the berries over low heat. After 10 minutes of simmering, mash the berries in the pot and add a bit more water, just enough to ensure that the berries won't boil dry. When you mash them they'll squirt their juice - be careful - the juice stains. Cover and repeat the process one more time. The berries are finished cooking when all the little seeds have burst out of their skins and the skins become soft. Let the cooked berries cool completely.
 |
| Good all by itself |
Prepare the Curd
1. In a medium saucepan, mix together the sugar and egg yolks, corn starch until well blended. Add the lemon zest, huckleberry purée, lemon juice and pinch of salt.
2. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly
until thick. Be careful not to let it boil or it will curdle. If you notice it nearing the boiling point, remove it from the heat and stir it to let it cool a bit. Remove from the heat and pour the curd
through the fine meshed sieve into a bowl.
3. Press some plastic wrap directly on the
top of the curd and refrigerate.
Prepare and pre-bake the tart shells
1. Preheat the oven to 375°F(190°C)
 |
| Roll the dough between waxed paper and make pastry circles |
3. One by one, peel off the pastry discs and gently press them into the tart tins, trim any overage and refrigerate them as you make them.
4. Re-roll the leftover dough between the paper sheets and repeat the process until you've filled all your tins.
5. To bake them, arrange the tins on a cookie sheet.
5. To bake them, arrange the tins on a cookie sheet.
6. Bake the shells for 14-16 minutes until lightly browned. Remove from the oven, set aside to cool.
7.
One at a time, flip the tins over onto your palm and very gently squeeze
the sides of each of the tart tins. The shells should pop out easily.
Whip the Cream
1. Whip the chilled cream together with the icing sugar to firm peaks.
Assembly
1. Stir the curd a bit to soften it. Spoon or pipe the curd into each of the tart shells, top with the whipped cream and finish with dragées if you're using them. You'll probably have some curd left over.
2. Refrigerate the tartelettes if you're not serving them right away.
Tips
Huckleberries stain like the dickens! If you have a dark apron on hand you may want to wear it.
2. Refrigerate the tartelettes if you're not serving them right away.
Tips
Huckleberries stain like the dickens! If you have a dark apron on hand you may want to wear it.
6 comments:
Huckleberry picking is one of the few activities I miss about living in Canada. Your post has me drooling for them! xo
you spit out a huckleberry cause it was .....what....awful...that doesn`t sound right.
what kinda weird ontario huckleberry were they selling. I`ve eaten them right off the bush in fact....sometimes that`s all I did when I was supposed to be filling up the bucket. You obviously have to try the British Columbia huckleberry. Specially the ones in the Kootenays, but I won`t be able to tell where exactly the best patch is, cause it`s a secret...
I`m even more sceptical after really looking at your pic of the huckleberry. That`s a weird looking huckleberry. Hmmm it looks too perfectly round and they are very tiny. I don`t think that was a true huckleberry. I have never seen ones that were harvested like a blueberry. And believe me my father tried and tried to grow them, It was a sacriledge to rip out the bushes, but he did and then transplanted them. I don`t know why they never liked all the pampering they got, but they always died. Maybe they needed the company of bears, or forest fires or something, but tender loving care is not what they liked.
If you tell me where that huckleberry bush is, I'll tell you where my secret rosehip cache is.
Recipe sounds delicious! Btw, those are elderberries, and not huckleberries. Elderberries shouldn't be eaten raw, but huckleberries are sweet and tangy when raw. One suspects that Mr Needham got asked, "What ARE elderberries?" too often, and labeling them as huckleberries promptly solved the problem!
There seems to be a bit of controversy when it comes to these darned huckleberries. My research shows that the Needham Huckleberries are Garden Huckleberries or Solanum nigrum var. melanocerasum. Here's a link about them: http://www.liseed.org/solanunusual.html Whatever the darned things were they made great jam and fantastic pâte de fruit.
Post a Comment