Joy in Repitition: The Amazing Three Layer Blueberry Buckle

Maybe you were wondering what we did with all that vanilla ice cream we made the other day. The truth is, we made pretty short work of it. But not before pairing it with one of my favorite summer desserts, blueberry buckle.
"How BORING," I hear you thinking, "no wonder you're in a cooking slump."

But, I promise you, it's not true. Although I've made this recipe (at least once each summer since 2004... ever since I spied it in Gourmet Magazine), it's definitely not ordinary. And certainly not boring. I've made it so many times that it feels like my own; my experimental modifications have become the norm. And people have begun to make requests that I bring this buckle (er... Burple??) to mid-summer functions.

This year's buckle was one of the best yet. And it had everything to do with the quality of the blueberries. Although they're the last of the season (and more regional than local -- hailing from MI), these berries tasted like I'd picked them myself. Unlike most commercial varieties, they were tiny. And sweet. And they held the Very Essence of blueberry-ness. Just like the wild blueberries I remember picking with my parents when we stayed at my great grandparents' cabin way up north when I was a kid.
What I will confess to you is that this is NOT a quick recipe. The buckle has three layers -- a pastry crust, a cakey layer (surrounded by two layers of blueberries), and a streusel topping. There is a deadly amount of butter, a copious amount of pastry blending, and a whole lot of "make this and refrigerate it for a while" instructions. But, it's seriously good.

You start off with the pastry crust. Roll it thin between two pieces of waxed paper.
You place the finished crust into your baking dish and put it in the fridge for a while (I warned you). Fortunately, you can occupy yourself with other parts of the recipe while it's chilling.
You can wash your blueberries. And zest a lemon.
And make the streusel topping.
And whip together the eggs, buttermilk, flour, and butter the compose the cakey layer.
Then you can begin to layer the ingredients in the baking pan -- first the blueberries, which have been mixed with the lemon zest.

Then the cake batter.
After that, another layer of blueberries.
Finally, you can add your streusel topping. The original recipe makes more than I need, but I happily make the entire batch and stow some of it away (in the fridge or freezer) for use on some other impromptu fruit cobbler.
The baked cobbler browns up nicely. The edges bubble, and the topping gets a sugar-topped --almost creme-brulee-like--crunch.
A bit of the buckle would be just fine scooped out, warm, onto a plate.
But, it's definitely better with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Triple Layer Blueberry Buckle


©BURP! Where Food Happens

Milwaukee Eat Local Challenge: Getting out of the slump

Local eating is at the heart of what we do here at Burp! Which is why it came as a real surprise when I didn't find myself feeling all aflutter when I read the announcement for the 2009 Milwaukee Eat Local Challenge taking place September 1-15 and the Wisconsin Eat Local Challenge which runs September 27 - October 4th.


Last year, when we started the challenge, we were seriously stoked. And our progress was impressive (we surprised ourselves by buying/eating 74% locally during the challenge). And, thanks to the number of local products/companies we discovered, we found that many of our local eating practices could be sustained over much of the year.

So, why am I not feeling more excited?
After all, THIS YEAR our local eating challenge should totally ROCK.

The fact is, the concept bores me a bit. As you know, I've been feeling a bit slumpy lately when it comes to cooking, and that feeling has begun to extend itself to the concept of local eating.

Being a locavore isn't new and exciting anymore. Just two years ago, "locavore" was the word of the year in the New Oxford American Dictionary. But this year?? The shine has worn off. The excitement has waned. The Eat Local Challenge blog (a great source of inspiration) is dead. And I've hit the danger zone.

I believe they call this sort of thing a "double edged sword". On the one hand, the fact that eating locally has become mundane to me is probably a good thing. That means its become part of my routine, a natural part of my life. On the other hand, there's some danger that allowing something as important as supporting the local food economy to become hum-drum means that it isn't at the forefront of my behavior. If I can't get excited about it, how can I expect others to do so?

So, we decided that something had to change.
This year, our eat local pledge includes the usual:

• We'll be looking for as many food sources within 100 miles of our home as we can find, shopping at the farmer's market, and looking for mechanisms to extend our local eating into the winter months.
  
• However, we'll also concentrate on the (more sustainable) ability to eat regionally -- meaning that we'll focus our eating on products we can procure from the near Midwest (WI, IL, MN, IA, and MI).
  
• We'll also be taking a critical view of what we can do to continue eating locally even after the farmer's markets have closed for the season.

But, I'm including one more bullet point:

• We'll focus on ditching the slump and FINDING THE JOY in local eating.

So, here goes! September 1st is here, and we're starting it off right.

What about you? Do you subscribe to local eating as a habit?
Any sources for inspiration you'd like to share?



©BURP! Where Food Happens