I moved to France! I know that means I should probably write something about French food, but instead I'm going to give you my recipe for wild blueberry pie. Nothing is more American New Englandy than wild blueberry pie. And this wild blueberry pie is the best. I've made this wild blueberry pie to impress boys from Maine. Boys from Maine are born and raised on wild blueberries, so they're like wild blueberry baked good connoisseurs. And they really like my pie.
I know you're probablyyyy curious about French boys. I'll have you know, the first smoking hot Frenchman I met was my Airbnb host, who is a gangly art student with a shaggy mop of brown hair and limited comprehension of English. But he knew just enough English to bashfully inform me that while I'm renting his apartment he'll be staying with his boyfriend. Maybe this will be a sign of my luck in Paris. It's fine! Complaining about being single is kind of like my thing now. Hopefully my next apartment will be animal-friendly, so I can start the cat collecting early.
Oh right, I am currentlyhomeless in between apartments, and this is what my whole kitchen currently looks like:
I can't do much baking without an oven, but fortunately for you, I made this pie like a week ago, while I was at my parents' house. Enjoy it, you oven-owning darlings!
Here's my 15 second pie crust tutorial:
PIE CRUST
1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 stick of butter, cut in cubes
small bowl full of ice water
Pour flour and sugar into a food processor and pulse until mixed well. With blade running, add cubes of butter. Keep pulsing until it starts to look like coarse sand. Slowly add 1/4 cup of iced water (with no residual iced bits) with blade running. Dough will come together. Remove dough from food processor, flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge for at least one hour, preferably two. Try to handle the dough as little as possible - the more you handle pastry dough, the tougher it becomes. I use the plastic wrap to scoop the dough out of the food processor, so I don't have to touch it at all.
When you're ready to use the dough, roll it out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface. (You can also use a wine bottle, if you don't have a rolling pin, you lush.)
WILD BLUEBERRY PIE
2 pie crusts, prepared with the recipe above (or you can cheat and buy pre-made crusts. whatever.)
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
6 cups of frozen wild blueberries (I swear by Wyman's)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
pinch cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
1 tablespoon sugar
Preheat oven to 425° F.
Whisk together egg and milk, to create your egg wash. Set it aside.
Drape one rolled out pie crust dough over your pie pan. Combine wild blueberries, lemon juice, flour, cornstarch, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl, mixing well. Pour mixture into the pie crust.
Brush the rim of the first pie dough with the egg wash, then carefully place second rolled out pie dough on top of the berries. The dough should be large enough to be able to completely cover the pan, and then extend another 1/2 inch. I like to overshoot it by rolling the dough out pretty large and then using scissors or a knife to trim it down.
Pinch and crimp the pie crusts, making sure to firmly seal the berries inside. There are a million tutorials on youtube for fancy crimping techniques, but here is a simple, straightforward one to help you out, if you haven't done this before.
With a paring knife, fork, or mini cookie cutter, create a decorative design in the top crust. You need tiny holes to help the insides bake. For this one, I used a fork to make a lopsided star.
Brush top crust with egg wash, and sprinkle with sugar. Place in oven - bake for 20 minutes at 425° F, then lower temperature to 350° F and continue to bake for another 40-45 minutes.
Technicallyyyy you're supposed to wait for it to cool all the way, so the juices are able to coagulate and it looks beautiful, like this.
But, if you're anything like me (i.e. you start to salivate immediately upon thoughts of warm pie), you can cut into it after it's cooled slightly, for a couple hours or so. It won't look very neat or pie-like, but it will be really freaking delicious.
 |
| so that should tell you something. |
Oh right, I am currently
.JPG) |
| only the essentials... and four bottles of wine |
Here's my 15 second pie crust tutorial:
PIE CRUST
1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 stick of butter, cut in cubes
small bowl full of ice water
Pour flour and sugar into a food processor and pulse until mixed well. With blade running, add cubes of butter. Keep pulsing until it starts to look like coarse sand. Slowly add 1/4 cup of iced water (with no residual iced bits) with blade running. Dough will come together. Remove dough from food processor, flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge for at least one hour, preferably two. Try to handle the dough as little as possible - the more you handle pastry dough, the tougher it becomes. I use the plastic wrap to scoop the dough out of the food processor, so I don't have to touch it at all.
When you're ready to use the dough, roll it out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface. (You can also use a wine bottle, if you don't have a rolling pin, you lush.)
 |
| et voilà! |
2 pie crusts, prepared with the recipe above (or you can cheat and buy pre-made crusts. whatever.)
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
6 cups of frozen wild blueberries (I swear by Wyman's)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
pinch cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
1 tablespoon sugar
Preheat oven to 425° F.
Whisk together egg and milk, to create your egg wash. Set it aside.
Drape one rolled out pie crust dough over your pie pan. Combine wild blueberries, lemon juice, flour, cornstarch, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl, mixing well. Pour mixture into the pie crust.
Brush the rim of the first pie dough with the egg wash, then carefully place second rolled out pie dough on top of the berries. The dough should be large enough to be able to completely cover the pan, and then extend another 1/2 inch. I like to overshoot it by rolling the dough out pretty large and then using scissors or a knife to trim it down.
Pinch and crimp the pie crusts, making sure to firmly seal the berries inside. There are a million tutorials on youtube for fancy crimping techniques, but here is a simple, straightforward one to help you out, if you haven't done this before.
With a paring knife, fork, or mini cookie cutter, create a decorative design in the top crust. You need tiny holes to help the insides bake. For this one, I used a fork to make a lopsided star.
Brush top crust with egg wash, and sprinkle with sugar. Place in oven - bake for 20 minutes at 425° F, then lower temperature to 350° F and continue to bake for another 40-45 minutes.
Technicallyyyy you're supposed to wait for it to cool all the way, so the juices are able to coagulate and it looks beautiful, like this.
 |
| mmmm. |
 |
| this is what happens when you're too impatient to let it cool all the way. i live dangerously. |
I'm going to need pictures of your hot airbnb host.
ReplyDeleteThe pie looks good too.
all yours, boo - https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1208371
Delete