Fresh Berries

This summer I have had a container herb garden again. I don’t know that I have mentioned it much on the blog, but I have enjoyed it just as much as I have in the past years. We have incorporated the herbs into many meals and they have been delicious. Even though I have loved my container garden, I dream of having an in ground, large garden someday. You see when we redid the backyard I was hoping it would work out to have a large fruit, vegetable and herb garden, but the shade, trees, layout etc. all worked against me and it just didn’t work out. It is probably for the best as I am not sure I have the time to take care of a larger garden right now, but I can still dream right and at least we have Mentone. That’s right, Mentone has a garden of sorts. There are all sorts of things growing up in Mentone and among them are blueberries and blackberries in the summer. This past weekend Russ, Jason, Allen, and I all picked berries. Thanks to Russ being a fabulous picker we ended up with lots of berries. Picking the berries was relaxing and fun and something I look forward to doing again next year. So, until I get a large garden of my own I’ll enjoy some yearly berry picking up at Mentone.

So, what does one do with lots of fresh blueberries and blackberries? Well besides eating lots of them as a snack everyday I decided to make a pie for my Dad’s birthday. There have been so many great blueberry recipes in all of my cooking magazines lately that it was a tough choice of which to make, but in the end I decided on Fine Cooking’s Black and Blueberry Pie with Lemon-Cornmeal Crust.

To make the pie you start by making the dough. You start by adding the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, and lemon zest into a bowl. Then begin adding the cold butter by cutting it into the dough. Once the butter is still in large pieces add the cold shortening and continue cutting it in until it is pea size. With a fork add the lemon water until the dough comes together. Then wrap the dough in two discs and cover with plastic wrap. These need to chill for at least 60 minutes or up to a couple of hours. While the dough is chilling you can start the filling. Start by combining sugar with the cornstarch, allspice, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Then toss the black and blueberries with the mixture until they are all coated. Then set this aside. Once the dough has chilled roll out one half of the dough and roll it out over the pie pan. Let the dough fall in and cover the bottom and sides. Then add the filling into the pie. Next take the other disc of dough and roll it out. Cut it into strips and then lay these out on top of the pie in a lattice formation. Cut the remaining butter into small pieces and put them in the open spots in the lattice. Next put the entire pie in the freezer to rest for 15 minutes. Have the oven preheated to 425 and put a baking sheet in to let it heat up. Remove the pie from the freezer and brush the dough with melted butter and then sprinkle with sugar. Put the pie on the heated baking sheet and let it bake for 15 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 375 and let it bake for an additional 60 to 80 minutes or until bubbly in the center. Let it rest and cool prior to serving.

This was an excellent pie. I really liked the subtle lemon flavor that was in both the dough and berries. The cornmeal in the dough added nice texture and flavor and overall the dough was easy to work with when it came to rolling out and forming the crusts. The berries were center stage as they should be and had great flavor and texture. Russ and I both felt like it could have been a touch sweeter, so next time I would increase the sugar in the berries slightly. I really liked the combination of black and blueberries and felt like the proportions worked out really well. Overall this was a wonderful pie with fantastic fresh, hand picked berries. Russ rates it a 9.

Black and Blueberry Pie with Lemon-Cornmeal Crust, Fine Cooking

For the dough:
9 oz. (2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour; more as needed
1/3 cup fine yellow cornmeal
1 Tbs. granulated sugar
2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
1 tsp. table salt
6 oz. (12 Tbs.) cold unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces
2 oz. (4 Tbs.) cold vegetable shortening
1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice combined with 1/4 cup ice-cold water

For the filling:
2/3 cup plus 1 Tbs. granulated sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/8 tsp. ground allspice
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. table salt
5 cups room-temperature blueberries (1 lb., 10 oz.), washed and drained on paper towels
2 cups room-temperature blackberries (10-1/2 oz.), washed and drained on paper towels
1/2 oz. (1 Tbs.) cold unsalted butter
1 oz. (2 Tbs.) melted unsalted butter

Make the dough: In a large bowl, stir the flour, cornmeal, sugar, lemon zest, and salt. Using a pastry blender or two knives, begin to cut the butter into the flour. While the butter is still in large pieces, add the shortening to the bowl and continue to cut the fat into the flour until most pieces are the size of large peas.
With a big fork, stir in the lemon water, 1 to 2 Tbs. at a time, until the mixture looks shaggy but is moist enough to hold together when pressed. With well-floured hands, gently gather and press the dough into two equal disks, handling it only enough to make the edges of the disks reasonably smooth. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill for at least 60 minutes, but preferably 2 to 4 hours, before rolling.
Roll the bottom crust: Roll one disk of the dough out on a lightly floured surface into a 13-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick. Gently transfer the dough to a 9-inch metal, glass, or ceramic pie plate (I like to fold the dough in half and unfold it into the pan). Don't stretch the dough as you line the pan, or it will spring back when baked. If necessary, trim the overhanging dough to 1 inch from the edge of the pan. Refrigerate until needed.

Make the filling: In a large bowl, whisk 2/3 cup of the sugar with the cornstarch, allspice, cinnamon, and salt. Add the blueberries and blackberries and toss gently until thoroughly combined. Set aside.

Fill and top the pie: Roll the second disk of dough out on a lightly floured surface into a 13-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough into 3/4-inchwide strips. Pour the fruit filling into the pastry-lined pie plate, being sure to include any dry ingredients remaining in the bowl. Lay five of the dough strips over the pie, parallel to each other and spaced evenly (use longer strips in the center of the pie and shorter strips near the edges).
Carefully fold back the second and fourth strips a little past the center of the pie and lay a long strip of dough across the center of the pie, perpendicular to the other strips. Unfold the second and fourth strips over the perpendicular strip.
Next, fold back the first, third, and fifth strips and lay a new strip across the pie, perpendicular to the folded strips. Unfold the three strips over the new strip.
Use this alternating technique to weave in three more strips (two go on the other side of the pie), completing the lattice top and evenly covering the pie. Trim the strips to overhang the pie by 3/4 inch.
Roll the overhanging bottom dough and the strips together into a cylinder that rests on the edge of the pie pan.

Crimp the edge. Cut the cold 1 Tbs. butter into small pieces and dot over the open areas of the lattice. Freeze the assembled pie for about 15 minutes to relax the dough.

Meanwhile, position a rack in the center of the oven and set a foil-lined heavy-duty rimmed baking sheet on the rack. Heat the oven to 425°F. Just before baking, brush the lattice top with the melted butter and sprinkle with the remaining 1 Tbs. sugar. Put the pie on the heated baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375°F and bake until the fruit is bubbling consistently at the center of the pie, 60 to 80 minutes more. This is important—if it isn’t bubbling near the center, it hasn’t thickened yet. If the crust starts to get too brown, cover it loosely with foil during the last few minutes of the baking time.
Let the pie cool to just warm before serving.
The dough can be made up to 2 days ahead and refrigerated, or up to 2 months ahead and frozen. And the baked and cooled pie can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.