By chance, last spring I stumbled upon the perfect culinary wedding. It was sweet, fragrant, visually stunning and talked about for weeks to come.
No. The couple weren't celebrated chefs. This marriage showcased the lively, versatile lemon and those sparkling little gems, blueberries.
The story starts with an easy-to-make lemon-blueberry cake I found in a favorite cookbook. It called for a sour-cream-based batter, lemon glaze and 10 ingredients.
In no time, this cake -- and its glorious combination of citrus and berry -- became a hit. Wherever I carted it, recipe requests followed. One friend asked for a piece to take on a plane to New York, and it was in great demand for picnics.
"Lemon and blueberry are like chocolate and vanilla together. They are made for each other," said Anna Pump who, with Gen LeRoy, wrote Country Weekend Entertaining: Seasonal Recipes From Loaves and Fishes and the Bridgehampton Inn (Doubleday & Co., 1999, $30), where I first spotted the cake recipe.
Pump serves this lemon-blueberry cake for brunch or dessert at the inn, where it draws raves from guests. "Blueberries are lovely, but not on their own unless you add some lemon. The acid complements the rather blandness of the blueberry."
So that's it? This is what makes the lemon-blueberry combination so outstanding, refreshing and addictive.
Thanks to Pump and her popular lemon-blueberry cake, I went on a springtime tear through grocery stores, farmers' markets and back into the kitchen, where I made any and everything calling for this flavorful combination.
Strangely enough, nobody ever said, "Enough. Get off the lemon-blueberry kick and onto something else."
Ordinary blueberry pancakes snapped to attention, a different L&B muffin graced the table each week. Then came the wave of lemon-blueberry breads, pies, cakes, puddings, jam, sorbet, lemonade and a favorite, a spin-off of the classic Blue Lagoon mixed drink.
Because summer is close, my mind shot to this refreshing warm-weather drink that calls for vodka, blue curacao and lemonade. "Why not add a splash of blueberry something," I thought.
A trip to the liquor store yielded a bottle of blueberry schnapps. I had no idea this existed. The combination worked, again. The Blue Lagoon was served with a new twist, and another recipe was added to my growing lemon-blueberry collection.
