Saskatoon Berry Tarte

Saskatoon berries are unique to western Canada and northwestern United States and are a personal favourite.  I went to a U-Pick this week and brought home a gallon of fresh berries.  If you are not familiar with saskatoons, they are similar to a blueberry but with more fibre.  Usually they are made into pies or crisps or canned as fruit in a water bath to have during the winter.  I am trying them in a few new recipes.



I also found a saskatoon U-Pick in France!  They have a very interesting farm, Ferme Moonriver.

This tarte would be a hit in France and was a regular at Eiffel Tower bakery when it was open in Calgary.

Saskatoon Berry Tarte

For the pâte sablée crust:

- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

- 9 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter

- 1/2 cup icing sugar

- 1/4 cup ground almonds

- 1 large egg yolk

- 1/4 teaspoon salt



For the filling:

- 2 1/2 cups Saskatoon berries, fresh or frozen

- 1/4 cup almond meal (almonds ground to a fine powder)

- 2 tablespoons sugar

- 1 egg

- 1/4 cup whipping cream or double cream



Preheat the oven to 360°F and lightly grease a shallow 11-inch tart pan, preferably one with a removable bottom.

Place the sugar, flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a couple of times. Add in the butter and mix briefly, just until the dough forms coarse crumbs. The mixture will not come together into a ball and will remain crumb-like, but it should clump if you pinch it with your fingers.



Pour the mixture into the tart pan and spread it evenly to cover the surface of the pan. Pat it down to pack it gently, creating a low rim all around. Don't worry too much about the shape or evenness of it; it's more important not to overwork the dough. Put in the oven to blind-bake for 15 minutes, until the crust is set and very lightly golden around the edges.



In the meantime, toss the berries (no need to thaw if frozen) with the sugar and the powdered almonds. Remove the pan from the oven, pour in the berry mixture evenly in the crust shell, leaving a small margin all around, and return to the oven for 15 minutes (18 minutes if the berries were frozen).

Remove the pan from the oven. Whisk the egg and cream together in a small bowl and pour evenly over the berries. Return to the oven for another 15 minutes.



Transfer to a rack and let cool completely before serving.