July 4th: Red, White & Gluten-Free

July 2: John & I returned from Provence, France (post forthcoming, sometime in 2011, gah).

July 3: I hit the Minneapolis Farmers Market, hard. Five racks of Bar 5 ribs; Blue Gentian Farm lamb chops, sausage, and eggs; many pounds of greens, carrots, beans, herb, berries, onions, garlic scapes, potatoes, and general fabulousness.

Oh lovely summer.

July 4: The Annual Super Duper Shubert Coopster July 4th Celebration of course!

Ribs, as always. Kale salad. Green bean & tomato salad with garlic scape dressing.

I kept it ridiculously simple at the pool. Minnesota strawberries and a big ol’ bowl of popcorn with butter and salt.

Suz brought this smashing trifle…

…and a special gluten-free version for me. I love my friend. I also love her daughter Vivian who took the kuchen pic up top, as well as the pic of me and of the sliced ribs below.

I took Suz’s Kingfield Market Berry Bake-Off Winning Blueberry Kuchen recipe and substituted a gluten-free, almond meal crust. Delicious! You can see that I added raspberries as well as blueberries – red, white & blue and all. You could do that too. Or not. All good!

Blueberry Kuchen (Gluten-Free)
Adapted from a recipe by Susie Shubert
Serves 10

Stephanie’s note: this recipe can be easily halved – bake in a 10-inch spring-form pan or removable bottom tart pan. It works nicely to line the pan with parchment paper.

1 stick butter (1/2 c.) + extra for buttering the pan
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 tsp. almond extract
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 c. blanched almond flour (choose a finely milled variety from this excellent list at elanaspantry.com)
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 c. sugar, divided, plus a little more for sprinkling
6 c. blueberries, divided
1 tsp. cinnamon

Generously butter a 9×13 baking pan.

In a large saucepan, melt butter. Stir in 1/2 c. of the brown sugar and let cool to room temperature. Whisk in egg and almond extract, then stir in salt and almond flour. Press dough evenly into pan, with slightly higher edges. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 30 minutes. (Can be prepared one day ahead.)

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, stir together 2 Tbsp. cornstarch, 1 c. sugar, and cinnamon. Sprinkle half of the mixture over the crust, top with 4 c. of the blueberries, then the remaining sugar mixture. Shake the pan a little so the sugar sinks down around the berries and the berries are evenly distributed. Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until the edges of the crust are deep golden brown and the berries are bubbling.

Transfer pan to a rack and distribute remaining 2 c. of blueberries evenly over the top. Sprinkle with a little sugar, let cool for 30 minutes, and serve warm with vanilla ice cream (or cool to room temperature).