Rosalie’s recipe will create a light and delicious pie crust for a great blueberry pie.
By Rosalie Harrington
When my daughter Danielle was about 5 years old she invited a new friend from school to our house for a play date, and I made an apple pie for their tea party. A short time later I got a phone call from her friend’s mother to set up a reciprocal date.
“My daughter has not stopped talking about the apple pie, and she was amazed that a pie didn’t have to come from a box,” she said cheerfully, surprising me with her comfortable confession. “She loved that it was hot and bubbly out of the oven and it smelled so good.”
Through the years I have run into that little girl’s mother, who later became a tennis partner of mine, and we always laugh about their delicious encounter.
It fascinates me that something as heartwarming and wonderful as a pie is not a priority for all cooks. After all, is there anything more delicious or aromatic as a freshly made pie, any season? All you need to know is how to make a good crust.
When we were growing up, only girls had “cooking” in school, and that’s where we learned to make pie dough. The teacher demonstrated with two knives how to mix the dough with Crisco “until it forms what looks like peas.” Water was then added and, with a light touch, combined with the flour, salt and Crisco until it formed a ball. After the gluten rested for a few minutes the fun part arrived – rolling out the dough – and each of us had our own little pie tins to spread the dough in. Sometimes there were apples; other times there were berries, but a mile-high lemon meringue pie was always a favorite of mine.
When we would return to our academic classes, we’d often be carrying leftover pie – a sure hit with the boys. That was when I first learned that “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”
Danielle had a birthday last week, and a favorite gift for this busy mother and teacher is when I make several pie crusts for her to keep in the freezer. She is a good pie baker herself, but she doesn’t have time to make her dough, so she loves being able to pull one from the freezer to make a pie with her boys. And, of course, I bring a complete blueberry pie over for her at the same time – fresh out of the oven.
Years ago, when Danielle was in high school, she was hired to be a maid at a big, old Victorian house on Nauchon Island, a private, rustic getaway for the exclusive use of the Forbes family just a short ride on a private ferry out of Falmouth. The second day was a little boring and she decided to make a peach, blueberry and nectarine pie for the family. It was such a hit they asked her to be their official baker so she could “make as many pies as she liked.”
Giving gifts of food is a pleasure for the cook and the recipient. When I really want to impress, I turn to a magical concoction known as a tarte tatin, an upside-down apple tart that is unusual because it gets flipped over as soon as it comes out of the oven, moving the crust to the bottom and the steaming hot apples and caramel to the top. Preparing this for a friend on a special occasion in their home is very exciting, because they get to watch the peril-filled flipping of the tarte.
During preparation, I tell the guests at the special occasion how the tarte tatin is said to have come to be: A piping hot apple tart slipped from the mitts of a pastry chef and went airborne as he removed it from the oven, but he deftly caught it as it turned over, plopped it onto the table and the tarte tatin was born – apples on top, crust on the bottom. The beautiful caramel surrounding the apples was a sight to behold.
Make a friend or someone you love a pie and remember what Julia Child said: “A little butter is a good thing.”
Blueberry Pie
- In the basket of a food processor place 1½ cups of flour, ½ tsp. salt. Pulse to combine.
- Cut up 1 stick of very cold butter into 8 pieces and place in the basket. Pulse just a few seconds to combine. Add 1 Tbsp. of cold Crisco to the basket; again pulse for a few seconds until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.
- Put 4½ Tbsp .of ice water into a small pitcher. With the machine running, pour the ice water into the opening at top of processor and immediately turn the machine off, as pastry begins to form a ball.
- Place the pastry on the counter, which you lightly flour to keep it from sticking. Form pastry into 2 hamburger-size shapes and wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. The pastry needs to relax a bit before you roll it out.
- Dust flour on a clean surface and trace a circle about 10 inches with your finger. Roll one of the pastries out carefully and gently. You do not want to toughen the dough by overworking it.
- Butter a pie plate, about 8 or 9 inches. or tin and line it with the pastry.
- Place 3 to 4 cups of blueberries in a bowl with 1 cup of sugar and 1 Tbsp. of flour. Toss gently to combine.
- Pour the fruit over the pastry evenly. Dot with a few tsp. butter in several places.
- Roll out the other hamburger-shaped dough and place the pastry on top. Tuck the pastry in all around and flute the edges.
- Brush the pie with Half and Half or sour cream and sprinkle with sugar. Make a hole in the center and a few slashes with a knife for heat to escape.
- Place the pie on a sheet pan to collect overflowing juice. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 30 to 40 minutes until the fruit bubbles over. Serve with vanilla ice cream.
