Blueberry season on the East End is in full swing, and there is no better excuse to escape the Hamptons bustle for a sun-drenched afternoon field trip to the North Fork.
Whether you jump on the ferry or take a scenic drive around the bay, heading out to pick your own fruit is the ultimate memory-making summer ritual — especially if you have kids in tow.
Patty’s Berries and Bunches in Mattituck is a quintessential stop. Beyond row after row of sweet, sun-ripened blueberries, you can pick up fresh-cut flowers and indulge in their homemade seasonal blueberry ice cream. If you’re from the South Shore, you don’t have to miss out on North Fork produce either — Condzella Farm brings their exceptional Wading River farm-grown blueberries straight to the Sayville Farmers Market every Saturday. Held weekly at the Islip Grange from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. (running through October 17), it’s the ideal local stop to stock up on peak-season berries.
For Lauren Lombardi, berry picking is a family affair, with Patty’s Berries and Bunches in Mattituck and Wading River’s Condzella Farm, helmed by third-generation farm John Condzella (bottom left), are prime picking places. (Photos by Lauren Lombardi and Doug Young)
Once you’ve loaded up your haul, caterer and chef Lauren Lombardi of Lombardi’s Love Lane Market has the ultimate low-stress dessert to bring your harvest to life. For Lauren, bringing children into the kitchen is half the joy of the farm-to-table experience.
“It shows them the process of picking something and then actually making something with it to eat,” Lauren says. “They can roll out the dough, wash the berries and really get involved. It’s just a great summer family thing to do.”
Her secret weapon for keeping things simple and keeping quality time front and center is a good kitchen shortcut: store-bought, all-butter puff pastry. Lauren relies on Dufour puff pastry — available at her own market as well as high-end grocers, like Whole Foods — to skip the tedious task of making dough from scratch without sacrificing that rich, flaky, bakery-quality crust.
Even better, this is a master recipe that Lauren keeps in her back pocket all year long. “I use it with every season,” she notes. “It could be apples and cinnamon in the fall, or strawberries and rhubarb in late spring — it’s completely interchangeable with whichever fruit is at its peak.”
Using store-bought puff pastry, Lombardi’s blueberry galette is the rustic yet elegant summertime dessert that is built to both satisfy and impress. (Photos by Doug Young)
Tips for the Home Cook
- Embrace the Gourmet Shortcut: Don’t stress over making pastry dough from scratch. A ready-to-bake sheet of all-butter puff pastry (like Dufour) bakes up rich, flaky, and golden in about 40 minutes.
- The 10-Minute Berry Rest: Whisking the sugar, flour, and lemon zest together before folding in the blueberries and lemon juice allows the fruit to absorb the aromatics and release a bit of natural juice, creating a perfectly thickened filling as it bakes.
- Egg White for a Golden Crust: Brushing the pastry border with an egg white wash (rather than a whole egg) gives the folded edges a light, crisp sheen and helps the sprinkled sugar stick for extra crunch.
- Year-Round Entertaining: Keep this base formula in your rotation as your go-to dessert for entertaining. Swap the blueberries for peaches in late summer or apples and cinnamon in autumn.
- Serve Warm with Gelato: Let the galette cool on the baking sheet right on top of the stove before cutting into wedges. Serve warm or at room temperature with a scoop of vanilla bean gelato or ice cream.
Local blueberry galette
Ingredients
- 1 sheet ready-to-bake refrigerated puff pastry, thawed (Dufour recommended)
- 4 cups fresh blueberries (from Patty's Berries and Bunches or Condzella Farm)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar (plus extra for sprinking)
- 2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour (plus extra for dusting)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice or lemonade
- 1 egg white, beaten
- fresh lemon (for extra zesting)
- vanilla bean gelato or ice cream, for serving
Directions
- Prep the Oven and Pan: Preheat your oven to 375°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Whisk the Dry Ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the ¼ cup sugar, lemon zest, and 2 tablespoons of flour.
- Fold and Rest the Berries: Gently fold in the fresh blueberries and lemon juice (or lemonade). Mix well to coat the berries and let stand for 10 minutes.
- Roll the Pastry: Meanwhile, on a lightly floured surface, roll out the puff pastry sheet with a rolling pin into a 13-inch round, about ⅛-inch thick. Gently transfer the pastry to the center of the prepared baking sheet.
- Fill and Fold: Spoon the blueberry mixture into the center of the pastry, leaving a 1- to 2-inch border around the edges. Fold the pastry border up and over the blueberries.
- Wash and Sugar: Brush the beaten egg white along the folded pastry border, then sprinkle with a pinch or two of extra sugar.
- Bake: Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 40 to 45 minutes, until the pastry is a beautiful golden brown and the blueberry filling starts to bubble.
- Cool and Serve: Remove from the oven and let the baking sheet cool on the stovetop. Zest some fresh lemon over the top for presentation, cut into wedges, and serve warm or at room temperature with a scoop of vanilla bean gelato or ice cream.
