keeping with the lazy days

Summer is the obviously fruit season what with the bounty of berries, peaches and early apples making their way into the world and ripening (or rotting) quickly in the heat. Sure, you could slave away in your kitchen and can and jam all of those beauties but thankfully there is a queen of such things in my family and that is my Grandma Sue. So while she is busting her butt in her 90+ degree kitchen, I can't really complain about slapping together a pie. I definitely shoved about twenty pounds of blueberries into my freezer but I just couldn't resist making a fresh pie or two for a couple near and dear to me.

Truth be told, I really never liked the blue suckers if they weren't tucked into a buttery, sugary muffin. Even then, I probably picked half of them out and tossed them. (Since when should something sinfully sweet have any nutritional value?) However, as much as I can take credit for introducing that dude-I'm-shacking-up-with to a plethora of pungent cheeses, complex jams and jellies (yes, thank Grandma), pinch-your-mouth-sweet desserts and some random fruits and vegetables that require farmer market sleuthing, this is one of the things I can say that he tossed my cheese-loving way. I did not fall for them easily or instantly. In fact, I was literally whining about my distaste for them mid-bite of the little fruit during a picking spree just a few weeks ago when I had to bite my tongue. They were the biggest, most gentle tasting blueberries I had been fortunate enough to eat. The key to that success was picking early and actually knowing when to shut up.

Since the weather was hot but I was determined, I went the lazy-girl route and made a bottomless pie. Pie crust can be daunting for some but really, I didn't want to be elbow deep in butter, sweating through my shirt. Nice picture, huh? The bright side is that this is cute and fun and out of the oven all that much faster for you to dump some vanilla bean ice cream on and shovel in your mouth.

Bottomless Blueberry Pie

Crust idea from here
Yield: 8 servings

INGREDIENTS
crust
1 1/3 C all purpose flour
1/2 C unsalted butter, frozen
3 T ice water

blueberry filling
4 C fresh blueberries, rinsed
1 T flour
1 T unsalted butter
1 T lemon juice
1/4 C white sugar
1/4 C brown sugar

DIRECTIONS
crust
1. Add flour to a medium bowl.
2. Cut in frozen butter with a pastry blender or fork until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
3. Carefully add the ice water, the mixture should begin to clump together into a moist ball.
4. Wrap ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 min.

blueberry filling
Grease an 8 or 9-inch pie pan.
1. Pour 2 C of the blueberries into the pie pan.
2. Combine flour, butter, lemon juice and sugar into a medium saucepan. Mix thoroughly. Add the remaining pint of blueberries and bring just to a boil over medium heat. Berries should begin to pop open.
3. Pour cooked berries over fresh berries.

assembly
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
1. Roll out cold dough (easiest between two sheets of wax paper) and cut out desired shapes.
2. Layer on top of pie filling. You might want to leave some open space on a berry pie so that some of the moisture evaporates in the oven. Otherwise, you may want to bake it a little longer.
3. Bake for 12-15 min.
4. Serve with ice cream, delish!

Nutrition: 266cal, 12g fat, 0mg sod, 37g carb, 19.5g sugar, 2g fiber, 2.5g protein

red celery to me, tasty treat to others

Growing up I had issues with fruit pie.  Cooked fruit had a weird texture that made my mouth quiver and my stomach churn.  I assume it was my subconscious freaking out by having something healthy show up in a dessert.  What, no fluffy meringue?  No gooey custard?  If it was disguised under a heaping mound of vanilla bean ice cream, I suppose I would slug it down.  Fortunately (or unfortunately for the waistline), my tastebuds' preferences expanded and pie made a nice home in my gut.  Especially the super sweet ones: cherry, berry, peach- yum.

Then certain people made their way into my life and began expounding upon the wonders of the rhubarb plant.  I'll eat it doused in sugar, but I suppose I would eat a napkin if it were as well.   This "red celery" and its terrible tartness befuddled me.  Again I thought of compromise and decided I would stretch myself to slather the rhubarb in its usual strawberry counterpart but my compromise was turned down flat.  The demand was made that no strawberries be added to boost the sweetness of this tart plant.  "Ick, this dessertcannot exist," I thought as I searched for "rhubarb pie."  Well, gee, what hasn't been attempted yet?

Now that rhubarb is inching its way back into the grocery market and the plant in my backyard is reaching for the light, I suppose it is appropriate to post this recipe.  I would say feel free to add the berries but this is actually intriguing as a rhubarb-only pie.  Especially with some vanilla bean on top...

Rhubarb Pie

from Sweet Fine Day
Yield: 8 slices

INGREDIENTS

Pie dough for an 8 to 10-inch two crust pie (I used the Perfect Pie Crust recipe from Sticky Chewy Messy Gooey)
6 C rhubarb, washed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3/4 C sugar
4 tsp cornstarch

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
1. Roll half of the pie dough to 1/8-inch thickness.  Press into the bottom of an 8 to 10 inch pie pan.
2. Mix together the remaining ingredients and pour into the pie.
3. Roll the remaining dough and lay on top. Crimp the edges to seal, and make five small cuts in the top with a small knife.
4. Bake for 1 hour, until the crust is golden. Cool completely before slicing, serve with ice cream if desired.