Tart Me Up! Sweet Treats for Savory Times

Everyone’s talking about how fruit, especially the very versatile blueberry, can be a featured ingredient in your non-dessert recipes, and that’s a rumor worth spreading. The more fruit servings we rack up in our daily diet the better, and if carrot cake can be a veggie-laden dessert favorite, then hey, fruits and berries can be known for elevating favorites like pork, chicken and fish.

But there’s no question that sometimes dessert is the best way to fully appreciate a fruit. Enter what could be the tastiest experiment for putting healthful ingredients into luscious packages ever. It’s the tart, on colorful display in  Martha Stewart’s New Pies and Tarts: 150 Recipes for Old-Fashioned and Modern Favorites. With examples of sweet tooth gratifiers that include Lattice-Top Blueberry Pie, Apricot-Pistachio Tart, and Cheddar-Crust Apple Pie, it’s a fruit lover’s romp. Recipes also embody full tart expressions of non-fruit love in the form of Summer Squash Lattice Tart and Leek and Olive Tart.

In celebration of the book, food52.com has a new contest that involves all things tart.  And get this: the winner will be flown to New York City on Monday, March 28th, where their winning recipe will be featured on The Martha Stewart Show. That’s simply tart-errific! The deadline was extended to March 12th, so there’s still time. Get details at the food52 Best Late Winter Tart Contest.

A Wild Combination

While we’re on the subject of dessert, thanks to The Record for reminding their readers about our own decadent dessert from the Wild Blueberry Dessert file. If you haven’t had chocolate and blueberries together, we suggest you do so. After all, cocoa has assumed superfood status for its high antioxidant content. At least that’s what a study conducted by Hershey’s indicates. (Hm. Uh, well, when it comes to dessert there are some things you just don’t want to overthink.)