The good news is I got another round of precious native strawberries in my CSA basket this week. The bad news? There was a berry glut in my refrigerator!

No matter where I’ve shopped over the past two weeks – Whole Foods (needed, um, vitamins), Stop ‘n’ Shop (gas points) or Lees Market (Westport weekend) – blueberries, raspberries and blackberries were a weekly special.

There were discounted Driscoll strawberries, too. But why buy the ruby-red-on-the-outside-white-on-the-inside California berries when natives are available albeit for a short season?

So I made a crostata.

I had about a cup of blackberries, a pint of iffy raspberries, a carton of blueberries and about a pint of strawberries from R&C Farms in Scituate. They all went into the bowl and were crushed a bit with a fork.

There were five fresh apricots and a couple of peaches in the fruit dish awaiting their peak of ripeness, so those were skinned, pitted, sliced, and tossed into the bowl as well. Yes, I can be impatient with stone fruits as well as most people…

I tossed the fruit with a ½ cup of 10-X sugar (which contains cornstarch), added a pinch of salt, a squeeze of lemon and 1 teaspoon of lemon zest. I set the bowl aside.

Now, about the crust…

While cruising the Epicurious app on my iPhone, I found 26 recipes for crostata, but only one crust recipe that screamed out for attention. Oh, hello, Rustic Nectarine and Blueberry Tart with Cornmeal Crust (Bon Appetit, July 2002).

I actually doubled the crust recipe since I wanted to make one for dinner tonight and another Sunday morning to take to my parents’ house. But the following is the recipe for one single crust.

Here’s the recipe from Epicurious:

Crust

1-2/3 c. all purpose flour

1/4 c. polenta (coarse cornmeal)*

3 T sugar

1 t. (packed) grated orange peel

3/4 t. salt

14 T.  (1 3/4 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/3 c. (or more) ice water

Combine first 5 ingredients in processor and blend 5 seconds. Add butter; using the PULSE function, blend just until butter is reduced to pea-size pieces. (To ensure a flaky crust, be careful not to overwork the butter.) Add 1/3-cup ice water. Using on/off turns, blend until dough comes together in moist clumps, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry.

Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap; chill at least 1 hour. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Chill. Let soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out.)

Roll out dough on lightly floured sheet of parchment paper to 14-inch round, turning dough occasionally to prevent sticking. Slide rimless baking sheet under parchment. Transfer dough on parchment to refrigerator. Chill until dough firms slightly, about 30 minutes.

I feel I should mention at this point that we ate the crostata — with a small scoop of Batch Vanilla Bean Ice Cream — around 9 tonight. So, this isn’t something you whip in an hour or two, although the dough and fruit mixture can be made ahead.

After I rolled out the dough, I was satisfied that there were little pieces of butter still intact. Visible pieces of butter will give your crust flakiness. If you don’t see those pieces, expect a tougher crust. Hence, the use of the PULSE function on the Cuisinart.

Now, for the filling…

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spoon fruit and juices into center of dough. Arrange fruit in even 10-inch-diameter layer in center. Brush 2-inch border of dough with egg glaze. Lift about 2 inches of dough border and pinch to form vertical seam. Continue around tart, pinching seam every 2 inches to form standing border. Fold border down over fruit (center 6 inches of fruit remain uncovered). Brush folded border with egg glaze;

I didn’t pinch the seams — oops! — and sprinkled my tart with sparkling sugar, but feel free to use granulated. I also arranged some lemon verbena leaves (from my CSA crate) in the middle.

After I did my arty thing, I hoped it didn’t look like I stuck a marijuana leaf in there although, I know my Inside Track partner Gayle would have loved it since she thinks I should open a “kush bakery.”

“Listen to me, you’ll make a fortune,” she has said more than I care to remember. “You think Flour’s a goldmine? It’s got nuthin’ on a kush bakery.”

Ralph Kramden’s female alter ego claims that between her surgically repaired knee and broken foot, my broken foot and my right ankle with Achilles tendonitis, we’re a shoo-in for Massachusetts medical marijuana for brownies and cookies.  But I digress…

I baked the tart for 50 minutes (there was a little leakage from the bottom crust but not much), removed it from the pan with a large spatula and cooled it on a rack for 45 minutes.

A couple of notes after devouring a piece:

I wouldn’t use course cornmeal for the crust since I didn’t like the mouth feel of the bottom of the tart. However, I didn’t mind it on the folds at the top. Odd. When I make another batch, I’ll try a medium-ground cornmeal.

Also, I didn’t taste the orange peel in the crust. I would have added more than 1 tsp. of orange zest to the fruit instead with a ½-teaspoon of vanilla for a bolder flavor.

It should serve 8 people, but in my house, it’s more like 6. Or perhaps when the medical marijuana law takes effect, the crostata will be a single serving!

Tags: Apricots, Baking, Berries, Blackberries, Blueberies, Crostata, CSA, Dessert, Gayle Fee, Laura Raposa, Medical Marijuana, Peaches, Raspberries, Strawberries, Tart, Trackgals