Summer Cottage Traditions Blueberry Pie

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My family will tell you I bake alot but they will also tell you there are things I tend to prefer to bake when I do not mind the mess.  Pies.  I find making the crust a huge effort that results in flour everywhere.  If you have similar concerns, I want you to know that there is no shame in using frozen.  When I made this pie I was in the mood to make my own crust.  Unfortunately, we do not have a food processor at the cottage.  To add insult to injury, I do not even have a pastry cutter at the cottage (I do now but not when I made this pie).  All had, was butter knives and forks. Oh!  And another issue, which my friends laugh at but is 100% true, I have hot hands.  So these are a few things I had to do.  I weighed the butter and frozen it.  Then grated it over the flour.  I kept putting it in the fridge as I went along.  Then when I had to bring it together with my hands,  I left it in the fridge longer and ran my hands under cold water.   I will not cover the pie dough I made here because I want to focus on the joy of my pie.  I make Strawberry or Apple pies more often.  And as you know if you bake at all is that they all 'collapse' but not in a bad way.  You mound your fruit and in the case of strawberries, I do not recommend this because they will run out.  In the case of apples that have not been macerated in sugar, will leave a hollow dome in the crust.  Well, this pie, I used berries that we picked our selves so they were not frozen.  I do not know where I got courage to pile the berries so high but it held up. It was glorious.  I also rolled the top dough a bit thicker, so the lovely form held better.  Most crusts suggest 3mm.  I did do that for the bottom crust but for the top, I made it closer to 5mm (1/4").   I made too much dough so my son and I went at the decorating.  To better get a sense of the crust, I use a rolling pin for cookies because they have markers for thickness.

Blueberry Pie of my domed Dreams

Summer Cottage Blueberry Pie

2 Pie Crusts (or just one if you do not want a top crust and keep it a bit lighter)

6-8 cups Blueberries fresh AND COLD  (I cannot guarantee if you use frozen, that it will not result in a soupy mess in the bottom of your pan so please use another recipe or just keep the berries just about level or just above level to the crust)

1/2c Sugar (1/4c Sugar if freshly picked)

1/2 large Lemon, Zest and Juice

Optional 7 or 8 Mint Leaves, cut fine.

1/4c Corn Starch

2T Flour

1/4t Cinnamon

1/8t ground Cardamom (this is magic)

1T Butter cut into tiny pieces placed over the fruit before the top crust.  

pinch of salt this means 1/8 t if you ever wanted to know

(1 standard 9" pie)

Blind bake your crust and let cool completely

Roll out your top crust and place in the freezer.  I roll on plastic wrap and place on a baking sheet in the freezer. If you do not have space, place on the bottom shelf of your fridge.  Do this at least 15 minutes before going to the next step.  Longer the better if you want a sturdy dough to weave with.  

In an enormous bowl, preferably metal that is not too heavy so you can toss (Stirring risks you breaking the berries), place all the washed and DRIED berries.  I wash in a big sieve that I can spread out gently with a paper towel.  Then I put in a toaster oven baking sheet in the fridge until I need them.  Add the flour and corn starch and toss until the berries are thoroughly coated.  Add the Zest and Mint and sprinkle the Juice over all the berries and toss again.  Sprinkle the spices and toss.  Add the sugar last because they will start to draw out the moisture too soon.   Toss thoroughly.   Set aside.  

Preheat the oven to 405F.  If you are fast at assembly, do this before the berries mix.  

Take out your top crust but leave on the baking sheet.  You can peel off the top layer of the plastic.  Using a pizza cutter, cut 1.5cm strips.  And do want you like with the trimmings.  I re-rolled them for decor.

Pour the berries into the bottom crust.  They will be a mound.  If you flour and sugar in the bowl, you can pour over but try to get them into the crevices bc they may just crystalize on top.  Place the litttle pieces of butter all over.  Then start to weave.  I start with the longest piece in the middle and weave from there. This is where the sturdier dough will help because you will have to lift and place to weave.  

Blue Berry Pie with Lattice Crust

Place in the oven for 25 minutes on a baking tray.  Then take the pie out and put on your crust shield or foil edge cover using strips of foil.  If you dont want to fuss, this is optional.   Place back in the oven and reduce the heat to 370 for 35-40 minutes.    

Let cool on a rack for at least 2 hours.  Overnight is better but my kids complain that it is better the same day.  

Summer Strawberry and Granny Pie - Baked no Gelatin

Fresh berries are nothing like what you can buy in the supermarket.  My son has turned in a little economist recently, comparing prices of groceries, particularly candy, wherever we go.  He did not immediately understand why we would pay a premium for berries we had to pick ourselves.  Then he tasted one.  The blueberries and strawberries he loves, he realized travel, unready for harvest, often all the way from warmer climes when we are dealing with -25C here in Canada.  The strawberries are partcularly shockingly different when you pick them yourself.  I insist if you use Strawberries you pick yourself, always cut the sugar in half.  Yes, half.  Now Strawberries bleed, no matter what you do.  These are runny pies, almost no matter what you do, unless you are using gelatine in those no bake pies, which I do not care for.  But there are things you can do to help yourself.  If you eat warm, you will have a runny Strawberry pie and that is ok.  If you are trying to present to a dinner party, then bake the day before because really, for the pie to completely cool is about the best thing you can do to keep the pie sliceable.  Also, I sprinkle a bit of sugar before to draw out some water to drain off.  I do this because I do not want to lose all the flavour of the syrup that develops in the bowl later but I am willing to sacrifice a bit of extra sugar.  When I make apple pie, my husband insists I leave out the water at the bottom.  I refuse.  I do this too where, I let the apples stand with a bit of sugar and a pinch of salt to get some of the water out :D.

Not the prettiest pie this time but it is delicious and baking with my kids is meant to be fun and not perfect. 

Baked Strawberry and Granny Pie

2 Pie crusts home made OR, 1 frozen and one homemade.  

8 cups whole strawberries or 6 cups hulled

1 Granny Smith apple

1/4 sugar (if bought in season, if not, add 2 more Tablespoons)

1/4t salt

1/2t vanilla

1/4c + 1T Corn Starch

Blind bake your bottom shell in a 375F oven for 15-18 minutes.  I use pie weights (large dry beans on parchment or foil inside the tart shell) but you could dock the crust also but I find with berry tarts this just turns your bottom crust into mush.  I would sooner just blind bake empty and poke the puffed up bits as I go than dock a berry pie shell.  This is easier for me bc I do the blind baking in the toaster oven so no bending over and opening a hot oven.  Set aside to cool.  

Wash and hull the strawberries.  I like to hull and put them a sieve over the sink to drain off excess water.  Slice them half a cm thick or leave them whole.  I like slicing them bc it is easier to eat in a pie.  Dice the apple with the skin on, fine dice, like 1/2 cm cubes or slightly larger.  I had to use them one year I didn't have rhubarb and it worked well and now I do this pie all the time.  Place all the sliced fruit in a large mixing bowl with 2 T of sugar and let stand for 10-15 minutes.  Then drain off the excess water.  

Add the 1/4 Sugar (you can subtract 1T bc of the sugar you added earlier just to draw out the moisture or you can subtract 2T if you picked your strawberries and they are naturally sweeter than supermarket).  Add the rest of the filling ingredients and toss well. What I do is use a very large bowl, I place the fruit in the bowl and add the zest and juice first.  Toss by using the bowl, so as not to squash the berries with a spoon.  Then I add the cornstarch a Tablespoon at a time to thoroughly coat the berries and start absorbing the water.  I add the spices half way through.  When all the cornstarch as been added, I do the same with the sugar.  I do this because Sugar is a hydroscopic and will immediately draw out water and I want the berries to have a bit of a barrier and for that barrier to quickly absorb that water evenly.  I added mint leaves, cut chiffonade because we have it in the garden and I think brightens the pie.  I am not telling you to preheat the oven because I am not one of those blogs that assumes you are powering through this whole process and I hate to waste electricity or gas when I know the actual steps will take longer.  All this stuff can wait so I would preheat the oven to 405F now.

Roll out your top crust if you are doing a lattice. Keep it cold bc it will be easier to handle.  We did not in the photo above because I was coordinating a child. So the result was not pretty but DELICIOUS.   If you are using a top crust or 2nd frozen pie shell which is totally respectable, you can.  Just remember to poke a decent steam vent on top.  

Fill the pie with the fruit mixture it just be barely heaping just barely if not level to the bottom crust.  Strawberry pies will run over.  I have done a mountainous blueberry pie (from fresh blueberries, not frozen.  Frozen is fine but dont heap the berries.  They will bleed and run out).  The blueberries were forgiving on the heaping and the lava flow.  When my husband did this pie he used too many berries and the pan we put the pie on was completely covered in syrup.  Place the lattice on.  You can weave them if you want but my daughter placed the lattice in the photo and I didnt want to overcomplicate this time.

Place in the oven and reduce to 400.  Bake for 25 minutes in a baking sheet.  Place your crust shield if you have one.  I just bought a silicone one finally.  I have been using foil for years.  Reduce the oven to 355 and bake for another 30 minutes.  Take out and remove the crust shield carefully.  It will have syrup on it.  you can wait 5 or 10 if you want.  Then let stand on a rack for 3 hours or overnight.  If you cant, it will likely be oozy... well really most strawberry pies with no gelatin or pectin will but runny no matter what.    

Serve with Ice Cream and Whipped Cream.... or all by its delicious self.  

VEGAN SPANAKOPITA with TOFU FETA

I have a Korean friend who has been with a greek partner for over 30 years.  She is as passionate about Greek food as she is maple syrup nowadays.  I consulted with her who consulted with her mother in law.  Now for those purists, as most greek are about their cuisine, yes, there is no butter, there is no real feta, but I used Leeks as I was told, I used dill as I was told, and yes I experimented with mint because I had it and it was yummo.  

I got the kids involved because it was a pretty big batch so I gave them the freedom to roll they way they wanted to keep it fun.

Directions

1 package frozen Phyllo (16 sheets)

 2.5 - 3 blocks of Frozen Spinach (I used 1 300 g block and 500g bag)

5 'half balls' of Tofu Feta (roughly half a batch)

5-6 cloves of Garlic

1 T fresh Greek Oregano (or 2 t dry Oregano)

1 bunch fresh Dill (just the tender Frons, chopped)

2 Leeks chopped and washed

2 Green Onions, chopped

1 small Onion diced

Optional if you have it:

Fresh Mint, chopped

Fresh Parsley chopped

for Brushing

1/4 c Melted Butter

1/4 c Olive Oil

Defrost and drain the spinach, squeeze as much out as you can because you dont want soggy pastries.  You dont have to complicate things with cheesecloth.  Just use a clean cloth napkin or hold against a bowl side or even a sieve.  I sautéed the leeks in olive oil until softened because they're so hearty but you dont have to.  Let cool and add to the spinach.  Add the herbs fresh though.  You want that brightness.  Massage the ingredients until combined but dont stress about getting it perfect.   

When wrapping, brush the phyllo with olive oil the same way you would with butter.  Use butter or vegan butter if you are not vegan.  The classic triangle is similar to folding a flag.  Cut a strip about 3" wide and fold repeatedly along the length in a triangle form.  Or as my daughter did, just have fun but use several lengths.  It will not hold if you just use one layer of phyllo around the filling.  It will basically look like wrapping it in wet loo roll.  You want all those layers.  

350 Convect or 375 Bake

15-20 minutes