I was flipping through one of my favorite cooking books, The Flavor Bible, looking for a flavor to pair with blueberries because I’m SO READY for summer. Ugh. Gimme summer.
The Flavor Bible, which gives crowdsourced flavor pairing ideas from awesome chefs, reminded me of the super summery combination of blueberries and BASIL. As a huge fan of basil, I was sold.
Plus, I’d already given that combination a test with this blueberry, brie, and mascarpone sandwich, so I already knew it would meld together like buttuh.
I spied this blueberry peach basil crisp over at How Sweet Eats and decided to adapt it to my current cravings. I wanted to throw in some lemon flavor in the form of a lemon curd drizzle. Blueberries, lemon, and basil: the recipe for conjuring summer well before it’s time. I don’t care, I’mma do it — blueberry basil crisp with lemon drizzle was born.
Oh, and if you’ve been here before, you may have already seen the lemon meets blueberry combination in this lemon blueberry colada.
Serve it alongside this blueberry basil crisp for a double dose of summer flavor.
I like serving this in pretty wooden bowls like these!
Isn’t it pretty, though? So green, so delicious. Get in all mah dishes!
I kept this recipe super simple by using store-bought lemon curd. Feel free to make your own if you’re so inclined. The rest of the recipe is a cinch. Plus, you get the fun of using your fingers to smoosh the oats around. Always fun.
I gave some of this to my mom to try to let her figure out what the secret ingredient was. The basil isn’t overwhelming, but it’s certainly strong enough to merit a bit of thought. I think you’ll hear a lot of “earthy” and “organic” words from the herbalness when you serve it. Plus “ooh,” “yeah,” and “thirds, please.”
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Ingredients
- 1 pint of blueberries
- 6-8 fresh basil leaves, torn
- 1 1/2 Tbsp granulated sugar or sugar substitute
- 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 cup whole rolled oats (other oats work, just avoid instant)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 6 tablespoons softened butter
- Lemon curd, warmed for topping
- Optional: ice cream for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- In a 9x9 baking dish, mix blueberries and basil with sugar, flour, salt, and lemon juice. Toss and set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix together oats, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt.
- Wet your fingers with water, and combine the softened butter with the oat mixture until it's evenly distributed.
- Cover the blueberries with the oat mixture and bake for 27-30 minutes, until crisp topping is golden and fruit is bubbling.
- Right before the crisp is done, warm the lemon curd in a microwave on medium for about 15 seconds until it thins slightly.
- Serve the crisp warm with ice cream and drizzle with warm lemon curd to serve.
If you make this recipe, share a photo and hashtag it #BIJOUXANDBITS. I’d love to see what you’re cooking!
Catherine Clark is a Chicago native sharing noteworthy things she sees and attempts to make in the world. She's a geek, cat lady, designer and editor by day, and noob chef by night.
