Summer brings blueberry days -- and recipes

Recalling the New England summers of her childhood, food and travel writer Linda Dannenberg says she thinks of blueberries.

"I can still smell my mother's lattice-topped blueberry pies cooling on our screened back porch, and taste the plump and tender sugar-topped blueberry muffins that we bought every August morning at Humphreys bakery on Martha's Vineyard," she writes.

Years ago, she adds, "We just loved them for themselves -- tiny, perfect wash-and-ready fruit with lovely, thin indigo skin, very few seeds, a delicate balance of acidity and sweetness, and dainty, ruffled crowns."

Now, scientific reports published over the last five years, stemming from studies at Tufts University, Rutgers University, and the USDA's Agricultural Research Service, have hailed the blueberry's nutritional assets as a potent antioxidant with beneficial properties.

Dannenberg's new book, "True Blueberry" (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2005, $22.50) is a trove of blueberry lore and background, summarizes her research, and features a variety of recipes, including favorites she collected from chefs and home cooks.

You can find blueberries these days in a wide variety of products, first among them fresh blueberries, both cultivated and wild, she says.

n Wild blueberries, commonly called "low-bush" blueberries because they grow low to the ground in the sandy barrens of New England and eastern Canada, are generally quite small, often no larger than a baby pea, and range in flavor from tangy and sour to exquisitely sweet.

n Cultivated, commercially grown blueberries were developed as hearty hybrids from wild high-bush blueberry plants in the Northeast that were able to thrive in areas where blueberries were not originally grown.

As well as fresh berries, there are air- or heat-dried blueberries, sometimes called dehydrated blueberries, that resemble raisins; freeze-dried berries that are light and crunchy; canned blueberries, and blueberry juice.

Researching and testing recipes for her cookbook, Dannenberg says she discovered blueberries' versatility, whether used cold, hot, whole and pureed. Her book offers a variety of recipes, for soups and salads, for main-course meat and fish combinations, as well as the many traditional sweet dishes and breakfast specialties.

Here's a breakfast suggestion for light, lemony pancakes adapted from a recipe developed by Jeff Jackson, executive chef at A.R. Valentien, at the Lodge in Torrey Pines, La Jolla, Calif.

The batter is very similar to a souffle batter, Dannenberg writes, with a small amount of flour and plenty of eggs, the whites used to give the pancakes their loft. "The blueberry-peach compote, which calls for both fresh and dried blueberries, has the intense flavor and pleasing texture of a relish," she says.

Lemon-Ricotta Pancakes With Blueberry-Peach Compote

For the blueberry-peach compote:

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

2 cups fresh blueberries

1 cup dried blueberries

2 peaches

For the lemon-ricotta pancakes:

6 large eggs, separated

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest

1/2 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups ricotta

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted

2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

To make the blueberry-peach compote: In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the sugar and water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the fresh and dried blueberries and stir to combine. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring once or twice. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Meanwhile, bring a small pot of water to a rolling boil and lower in the peaches. Cook for several minutes, just until the skins split. Remove and immediately plunge them into an ice-water bath. Peel the peaches, remove the pits, and, working over a dish to retain the juices, cut the peaches into small chunks. Fold the peaches and juice into the blueberry mixture. Cover and set aside until ready to serve.

To make the lemon-ricotta pancakes: In the bowl or an electric mixer, combine the egg yolks, sugar, and lemon zest and mix at medium speed for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is satiny and pale yellow. Add the flour and salt and mix for 2 minutes. Add the ricotta and butter and mix until incorporated. Set aside.

In another bowl, whip the egg whites until they hold stiff peaks. Fold one-third of the egg whites into the yolk mixture. Add the remaining egg white mixture and gently fold it in, working to maintain as much volume as possible.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large skillet or griddle over high heat. When hot, reduce the heat to medium-high. Ladle the batter into the skillet, about 1/2 cup per pancake. Flip when the edges just start to turn brown and little bubbles begin to form in the pancake. Cook just until lightly browned on the other side. Add a little bit more oil as needed for each batch. Serve immediately, accompanied by the Blueberry-Peach Compote served in a sauceboat or bowl at the table.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

For people who love classic, deli-style cold beet borscht, this variation with blueberries enhancing the beets will be a happy discovery. Dannenberg says that, loving both borscht and blueberries, she guessed the two flavors would complement each other, "so one summer day when I was making cold borscht for lunch with friends, I added blueberries, and a new soup was born."

The flavor is very intense, she writes, so a soup cup, rather than a bowl, with a generous dollop of sour cream, is all you need for a perfect summer starter.

Blueberry-Beet Borscht

3 cups water

1 pound (about 4 medium) beets, peeled and cut into matchstick strips

1 cup fresh blueberries

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons salt

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Sour cream, for garnish

2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill, optional, for garnish

In a large saucepan or medium soup pot, combine the water, beets, blueberries, lemon juice, sugar, salt, and several turns of the pepper mill; stir to combine. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, until the beets are tender. Cool to room temperature, then transfer the soup to a storage container, cover, and refrigerate.

Serve chilled, in soup cups garnished with a spoonful of sour cream and, if you wish, a sprinkling of dill.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

"With an intense blueberry flavor and a wonderful royal-purple hue, this rich ice cream exemplifies the essence of the blueberry," Dannenberg writes. She suggests serving it alone, or garnished with an assortment of red berries.

Blueberry Ice Cream

3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup water

2 cups heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large saucepan, combine the blueberries, sugar, lemon juice and water, and heat over medium-high heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the blueberries release their juice and the mixture thickens slightly, about 12 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool completely. Add the cream and vanilla and stir to blend. Pour the mixture into the canister of an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's directions.

Makes about 1 1/2 quarts.

(All recipes from "True Blueberry" by Linda Dannenberg, Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2005, $22.50.)