=> Red, White, and Blue Cheese Blueberry Brown Betty for Chinese Green Tea <=

Last 5th of July, I posted this recipe on Facebook, a day late for the 4th of July celebrations here in the US. I've posted it early this year, so that those of you who want to get prepared will have time!

Here's a very special way to use the blueberries that are in season now! This dessert goes delectably with a Chinese green tea—refreshing yet with slightly toasty flavors.
The blueberry, lemon, and blue cheese flavors hit the cool "green" receptors, as does the tea, while the whole wheat breadcrumbs, the cinnamon, and the tea's slightly brown side, aim for the warmer receptors, making for a complex concert of flavors that linger happily on the tongue. BTW, the saltiness of the cheese takes away any bitterness in the tea. Here goes!
Ingredients:
2 pints (about 1 liter) fresh blueberries
1.5 cups (350 ml) white sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons (10 ml) true cinnamon
5 oz. (about 150g) mild blue cheese (can also be 6 oz. - depends on the size of the package you can get)
8 oz. breadcrumbs (about 250 ml) (I used whole wheat panko - think regular breadcrumbs may be a better choice - the butter will soak in better)
1/4 lb (one stick) (about 110g) butter
Method: Preheat oven to 400ºF/200ºC.*
In a colander, wash the blueberries. Be sure to carefully look for and remove stems and any berry that has seen better days. Drain and put in a bowl. Add sugar, cinnamon, and lemon, mix, and set aside. (if you are tempted to taste a berry at this point, by all means give in: the berries will taste sweet and cool and fresh, with the slight and slightly delayed tang of the cinnamon to cap the experience! I confess to tasting several...).
In another bowl, combine the bread crumbs and crumbled blue cheese (as crumbled as possible). Melt half of the butter, and drizzle over the cheese-bread combo, and mix well.
Layer the bread-cheese combo in a well-buttered 2 quart dish, followed by a layer of the blueberries, then top with another layer of the bread-cheese combo. Cover (I covered my dish with foil) and put in the over for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, remove cover, dot generously with remaining butter, and place back in the oven uncovered for another 5 to 8 minutes to brown a little. When it looks good to you, remove again, let cool, and then refrigerate overnight. Enjoy the next day with the Chinese Green Tea. Some people might like whipped cream on the betty,** but I think it diminishes the complexity of the flavors.

Top: Red, white, and blue - berries, sugar, and cinnamon before the addition of lemon juice; bottom: the finished product with tea (yes, it crumbles when you serve it, mixing all the flavors together)
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* Metric conversions are approximate, so use your own judgment! If it looks good and tastes good, then you've got it right! Please send me any corrections!!

** Something to do in your spare time: look up the differences among brown betties, cobblers, crisps, crumbles, grunts, slumps, buckles, etc. — I've called this dessert a brown betty, but it may not be, depending on the definition. In the old book on which this recipe is based, it's called a grunt, but I'm not sure that's correct either.