Blueberry Pie

Pie is one of those classic, iconic foods that marks the celebration of both fun and tradition. It can be the perfect finale to a holiday dinner, and or the ideal treat to take to a casual picnic outing. Pie seems to be way more of an American thing, however, as I always see them gracing the covers of the summer issues for Martha Stewart Living. And as cliche as it may sound, whenever I think of pie, my mind conjures up images of the hot pastries cooling on the window sill of an eighteenth century farmhouse (yep, I read a lot of them Little House books back in the day).



Yet despite all of this tradition, growing up in a Korean family meant that pie was hardly ever a part of my daily repertoire. It wasn't something where I could say my grandmother had taught me, with a secret family recipe that had been passed on from generation to generation. Nope, no memories of nostalgic childhood baking here (tear). In fact, I think my family only began having pie at home when I first learned to start baking a couple years ago.



To be completely honest, I've never really been a pie person, and it may be because whatever little exposure I did have as a kid, it was with tasteless, store-bought, frozen pie. But upon discovering the joys of making pies from scratch, I've become very fond of making them. Now, every summer I wait in eager anticipation for the perfect moment to make a summer fruit pie. With the season bursting with such an array of peaches, nectarines, cherries, and berries of all kinds, it can be hard to settle on just one. Should I go for peach? Or maybe peach-blackberry? Maybe cherry?

In lieu of Father's Day that took place on Sunday, I made my first pie of the summer - blueberry.






Apart from the filling being a little soupy from using flour instead of cornstarch, it turned to be very tasty - a flaky butter crust filled with chunky bits of blueberries, spiced with a hint of nutmeg. We didn't have any ice cream to serve it with, but it didn't matter - all but a single wee slice was gone by the end of the day. And I think that means that this one's a keeper :)

Fresh Blueberry Pie
adapted from allrecipes.com. makes 1 pie; serves 8

2 recipes of Butter Flaky Pie Crust
4 cups fresh blueberries
3/4 cup white sugar (*note: if your blueberries are veryd sweet, you can cut down to 1/2 cup)
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
egg yolk or milk
turbinado sugar

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. In a large bowl, toss together the sugar, blueberries, cornstarch, salt, lemon juice, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Roll our your bottom pie crust, line the pan and trim the edges with a pair of kitchen scissors. Add the filling and cover with your second pie crust to form the line. Seal the edges by pressing down with your fingers and crimp with a work. Cut 4 air vents in the center of the lid with a paring knife. Work quickly so that the dough stays as cold as possible.

Brush the lid with a beaten egg yolk or milk and sprinkle generously with turbinado sugar.

Bake for 15 minutes on the lowest rack of your oven. Then turn down the heat to 350 degrees F and bake for another 30 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes and serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!