Saturday, July 18, 2009

"Singing the Blues" Blueberry Pie



I know...I know...I know... it has been forever since I posted on here. Sorry to all my readers who have checked and re-checked to see if I had cooked up any interesting post-worthy dishes. I have been cooking but alas have not had the gumption to get on here and post, mostly due to the lack of photos...when cooking "a la moment". And...maybe due to the fact that I am 3 months pregnant! Yay!

So here I am making a stab at a come back. I hope you too will follow me around on a bit of a cooking spree.

Well it has been so hot here...we are really into the days of summer. I have been wanting to make a Blueberry Pie since before the 4th of July. Meant to make one for the 4th...but got caught up in my first trimester pregnancy exhaustion and disappointed my poor family terribly. They all actually sat around the patio table after we enjoyed a lovely BBQ dinner and looked at me and said "What NO dessert". I am the family appointed "Queen of Dessert" in our clan. We always have more than one dessert offering ...not this time...there was not a sweet item to be had...so I got to work and quickly baked up a batch of brownies that were cooled down and ready to eat when we returned from watching fireworks. The perfect way to end the evening. I had slightly redeemed myself...enough to quiet the grumbling down to a low roar.


So 3 weeks later I am finally getting down to business and making my favorite summer berry pie.

You will need a top and bottom pie crust. Use your favorite recipe or store bought.

For the blueberry filling:
6 cups fresh blueberries
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and grated
2 tsp grated lemon zest
2 tsp lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbls instant tapioca, ground (in a spice grinder)
pinch of salt
2 tbls unsalted butter cut into 1/4 inch pieces

1 large egg, lightly beaten with 1 tsp water

Instructions:
Roll out the bottom pie dough and lay into pie pan. Leave dough overhang. Put in refrigerator to chill while making filling.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, adjust oven rack to lowest setting. Place rimmed baking sheet on oven rack.

Place 3 cups berries in saucepan over medium heat. Using potato masher, mash berried several times to release juices. Continue to cook, stirring frequently until half of berries are mashed and mixture has thickened and reduced to 1 1/2 cups. Let cool slightly.

Place grated apple in clean kitchen towel and wring dry. Transfer to a large bowl. Add cooked berries, remaining 3 cups uncooked berries, lemon zest and juice, sugar, tapioca and salt. Toss to combine. Transfer mixture to dough-lined pie pan and scatter butter pieces over filling.

Roll out top disk of dough. Using any shape 1 1/4 inch cookie/biscuit cutter cut out 6 or 7 holes from the center of the dough. Roll dough loosely around rolling pin and unroll over pie.

Trim dough over hang to 1/2-inch. Fold dough under itself so that it is flush with the rim if the pie plate. Flute edges using fingers or with the tines of a fork. Brush top and edges of pie with egg wash. If dough is very soft, chill for 10 minutes.

Place pie on heated baking sheet and bake 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 and bake another 30 minutes. Transfer pie to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature at least 4 hours.

Enjoy!

1 comment:

lynn said...

great recipe! i love pie!