Proud Italian Cook

Lemon Blueberry Summer Tart

May 27, 2026 by Marie Leave a Comment

When I think of summer I think of all the different berries that are in abundance right now and this lemon blueberry dessert is the perfect dessert to make this time a year. This summer tart is light, fruity, refreshing and quite simple to make.

Picture a crisp tart crust filled with the berries of your choice, for this tart I used primarily blueberries but I also added in some blackberries that I had. You can also use raspberries or strawberries as well to create your tart.

What I love about this tart is how it’s cooked and comes together, there’s a layer of berries that gets cooked right on top of the tart crust until it gets nice and bubbly, then when it’s done you shut the oven off and scatter fresh berries all over the top, it’s the best of both worlds!

You can serve this for all your summer affairs, summer cookouts, graduations, birthdays, bridal and baby showers or just for a delicious dessert to enjoy relaxing on your patio, you get the idea.

Enjoy!

Lemon Blueberry Summer Tart

This recipe is adapted from an old issue of Woman's Day magazine from the early 2000's. Replacing the almond flavor with lemon gives it a bright summery twist.

Author: Marie

Ingredients

1 cup flour
2 Tbl. flour
⅔ cup granulated sugar
2 Tbl. granulated sugar
½ t. salt
1 stick, unsalted butter
1 Tbl. white vinegar
5 cups of blueberries
heaping tablespoon of lemon zest
½ t. lemon extract
confectioner's sugar

Instructions

Heat oven to 375F. Coat a 9-in. round or square tart pan with removable bottom with nonstick spray.
Pulse 1 cup flour, 2 TBL sugar and the salt in a food processor until blended. Add butter and pulse til crumbs form. Sprinkle with vinegar, pulse til blended. Turn out dough and bring together with fingers.
Press dough into bottom of tart pan. Top with 3 cups of the berries.
NOTE: Feel free to make it with a good quality store-bought pie dough, I've done it and it turns out just as delicious.
Mix remaining 2 Tbl. flour, ⅔ cup sugar and lemon zest in a small bowl and evenly sprinkle over berries and drizzle the lemon extract right over the berries.
bake tart 50 - 60 minutes until bubbly.
Remove tart from oven and top with remaining 2 cups of blueberries.
Cool on a wire rack, when cooled sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve at room temperature.

Leave a Comment Filed Under: Desserts, Fruit, Summer, Sweet Tart Tagged: berries, blackberries, blueberries, lemon flavor, summer dessert

Snap Pea, Asparagus and Bocconcini Spring Salad

May 8, 2026 by Marie Leave a Comment

This crisp, bright salad just screams spring has arrived!

Crunchy sugar snap peas, fresh asparagus, paper thin radish slices, creamy pearls of bocconcini and some toasted walnuts add to the heightened flavors of this salad.

Lightly blanching the snap peas and the asparagus beforehand and then tossing them into an ice bath, helps to set the vivid color, plus it’s a better mouth feel.

I layered all the components onto a pretty platter of fresh greens which was a mix of spinach and baby kale, but you can use any greens of your choice. You’ll want something that will be a sturdy bed for all the different weights of the vegetables.

You might also want to choose a favorite nut of your choice maybe pistachio’s or pine nuts or toasted almonds, whatever you choose, you can’t go wrong, I loved it with the toasted walnuts.

Same thing with the dressing, you can use straight up fresh lemon and olive oil dressing, or a vinaigrette that I used, which I’ll post below.

This spring salad is elegant enough to serve for Mother’s Day, Easter or a spring dinner party. It’s the perfect side along any thing that you grill.

Enjoy and Happy Spring!

Snap Pea, Asparagus and Bocconcini Spring Salad

Celebrate spring with this crisp, bright, and colorful salad

Author: Marie

Ingredients

1 package, (12 oz.) of fresh sugar snap peas, STRING REMOVED and cut diagonally, leaving some whole
1 lb. fresh asparagus cut diagonally but leaving the tips longer
a handful of radishes, sliced thin
boccocini, ( mozzarella balls) sliced in half ( I used half of a container)
Spinach mix, arugula, sturdy mixed greens of your choice Enough to spread and cover a pretty platter
Toasted walnuts, pistachio or any nuts of your choice, enough to scatter around
DRESSING;
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
3Tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 small garlic clove, grated
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon honey
½ to ¾ cup of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
All the measurements for the dressing is to taste, feel free to add more or less. Same goes with the ingredients above for the salad you can add more cheese, radishes, asparagus, snap peas, this is just a guide line.

Instructions

Bring water to boiling, add salt and blanch your asparagus and snap peas 2-3 minutes only. Then quickly plunge them into ice water. After they have drained spread them out flat onto a kitchen towel and pat dry, they should not be wet when composing your salad.
The dressing should be shaken well in a glass jar until well combined, tasting and adjusting to your liking.
Then compose your salad.
Greens, asparagus, snap peas, radishes, bocconcini, spread out nicely all over, then spoon on the dressing and of course salt and pepper to taste.
Enjoy

Leave a Comment Filed Under: Salads, Spring, Summer, Vegetables Tagged: asparagus, bocconcini cheese, spring salad, sugar snap peas

Grilled Vegetable Stacks With Lemon, Parmesan Ricotta Cream

April 16, 2026 by Marie Leave a Comment

These vegetable stacks are fun to make, very easy to put together and they make a beautiful and unique presentation. I’m a big fan of grilled vegetables, and as soon as the weather gets nice I’m often out there grilling whatever veggies I have on hand.

Basically you stack up some of your favorite grilled vegetables layered with a very flavorful ricotta mixture in between.

I chose to make mine with some grilled zucchini and grilled eggplant, but think about it, you can stack nicely sliced bell peppers, onion slices, potato slices and portobella mushrooms to name a few, all layered with that dreamy ricotta mixture.

You’ll want to get some good grill marks for a nice presentation when the vegetables are stacked.

The “glue” and the flavor buster in between the layers is this mix of ricotta, grated Parmigiano or grated Romano cheese, granulated garlic, parsley, basil, lemon zest and a touch of lemon juice, salt and pepper. There is no recipe, put everything in a bowl mix it up measure with your heart and taste it to your liking. I would suggest getting a more store-bought whole milk ricotta instead of the kind in water behind the deli.

If you get the deli kind you need to strain it of it’s liquid before mixing in everything else. The lemony and herby ricotta mix really elevates the whole dish.

It’s a different way of enjoying your grilled veggies. You can eat it for lunch, brunch, a light dinner. We even stuffed some in a pita for a light dinner one day, it’s all good!

To finish it off make a light vinaigrette of lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Whisk it up really good until it thickens ,then spoon some all around your stacks and on to your serving platter to enhance it even more.

Happy grilling!