550 Miles, 10 Pounds of Berries, 1 Delicious Recipe

I've been dying to get this post up all week, but this is the first chance I've had to sit down and write anything--it's amazing how much time a day job takes up!

Last weekend, a friend, her daughter, and the H.S. drove up to Petoskey, Michigan to visit another friend and her husband. Petoskey, for those of you unfamiliar with the upper reaches of Michigan, is almost to the point of the middle finger of the "mitten" of Michigan. It's an absolutely charming resort town, overlooking Little Traverse Bay, and chock full of little, independent cafes, ice cream shops, bakeries, bookstores--and did I mention how charming it is?

Anyway, it's cherry season in Michigan right now, and the plan was to hit up some of the orchards for bulk fruit to bring home. Lucky for us, my friend in Michigan had also discovered a wild raspberry patch in the forest not far from her house. Thus, the first order of business was a trip to the woods for some sweet-tart deliciousness:

One hour and 8 zillion bug bites and bramble-scratches later, we ended up with one and a half pounds of these beauties:

Which we turned into this completely divine, so easy-its-criminal tart:

It's from epicurious.com, and seriously--make this at least once this summer. Use whatever almost over-ripe berries that you have on hand. Blueberries, cherries, raspberries, blackberries, a combination of the three, whatever. Plums might work nicely too, although you might have to bake it a little longer to compensate for their excess moisture. When I made this again (again!?!) two days later for my coworkers, I used cherries and added a little almond extract to the crust and a little almond liquor to the custard. (And not to brag or anything, but it got some rave reviews.) If you want to gild the lily, throw together some whipping cream and powdered sugar, or serve with a small scoop of your favorite vanilla ice cream. You will not be disappointed.

We still had enough berries left over to make a raspberry-kirsch sauce that we spooned over ice cream the following night. It was rich, tart, and heady with the scent of raspberries, with a nice little kick from the kirsch.

We did make it to a few farms/orchards and the H.S. ended up with 4 pounds of tart cherries, 2 pounds of sweet cherries, and 3 pounds of blueberries....awww, yeah!

Along with an excessive intake of fruit (and, in the interests of full disclosure, cocktails), we did manage to spend some time at the beach. (Where the H.S., foolishly, fried herself to a lobster-red crisp.)

All in all, it was a glorious weekend, and the H.S. was so thrilled to spend time some quality with great friends and good food. To my dear B and D, thanks for hosting, we'll be back again soon!

Brown Butter Raspberry Tart

**NB: If you want to save a few minutes and not brown the butter, it's not the end of the world, I didn't do that for the cherry version. Also, if you have a weirdly large tart pan like me (mine's 11 inches), you can "double" this recipe by half. (10.5 tbls butter, etc...it requires a little guesstimation, but it's not hard.)

Crust:
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
Pinch of salt

Filling:
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, diced
2 6-ounce containers fresh raspberries

Directions:

For crust: Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375°F. Using rubber spatula or fork, mix melted butter, sugar, and vanilla in medium bowl. Add flour and salt and stir until incorporated. Transfer dough to 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Using fingertips, press dough evenly onto sides and bottom of pan.

Bake crust until golden, about 18 minutes (crust will puff slightly while baking). Transfer crust to rack and cool in pan. Maintain oven temperature.

For filling: Whisk sugar, eggs, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Add flour and vanilla; whisk until smooth. Cook butter in heavy small saucepan over medium heat until deep nutty brown (do not burn), stirring often, about 6 minutes. Immediately pour browned butter into glass measuring cup. Gradually whisk browned butter into sugar-egg mixture; whisk until well blended.

Spread berries into bottom of cooled (or mostly, sort of cooled crust, if you're me and really impatient!) Carefully pour browned butter mixture evenly over berries. Place tart on rimmed baking sheet. Bake tart until filling is puffed and golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool tart completely in pan on rack. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and store at room temperature.

Remove tart pan sides. Place tart on platter. Cut into wedges and serve.