Friday, August 2, 2013

A Plethora of Pie

It's summer and that means fruit season.  Fresh strawberries, rhubarb, blueberries, raspberries, peaches, apricots, plums...the taste buds quiver in anticipation of juicy, sweet, fruity treats.

And guess what!  Fruit season heralds the arrival of PIE season!  Sure, you can make pie from frozen fruit, but there's no better pie than one that comes from plump, juicy, fresh fruit.

So here you have it...a plethora of pie!  Strawberry/rhubarb, blueberry, and peach/blueberry.  Use the basic pie crust, and just pick your favourite fruity filling.

Here's the never fail pastry recipe I included a little while ago with the pecan pie recipe.

Never Fail Pastry

- Use the full recipe and freeze the rest.

5 cups flour
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
2 cups Tenderflake or Crisco lard (shortening)
1 beaten egg
1 tbsp. vinegar

Mix flour, salt, and baking powder together.  Cut the lard into the flour mixture until crumbly.  (HINT - if you have a Kitchenaide it makes easy work of this step, then you can hand mix the rest)

Beat the egg in a glass measuring cup, add the vinegar, then add enough cold water to make 3/4 cup of liquid.

Add the liquid mixture to the flour crumb mixture and mix by hand - knead a couple of times on a hard surface to completely mix.

NOTE:  If you want to 1/2 this recipe use the whole egg and just half of the other liquid ingredients.


Now pick your favourite filling from the recipes below, or better yet, make a pie a week for the next three weeks!  :) 

Strawberry/Rhubarb

2 1/2 cups rhubarb, chopped
2 cups strawberries, halved
1 1/4 cups sugar
5 tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp. salt

Line an ungreased pie plate with pastry.  Mix dry ingredients together; add rhubarb and strawberries.  Mix well and place in uncooked pie shell.  Cover with the top crust.  Brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar.  Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake about 50 minutes longer.


Blueberry


4 cups blueberries
2 tbsp. flour
2/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp. butter

Combine blueberries, flour, white sugar, salt, and lemon juice.  Stir together and let stand for 10 minutes.  Line a pie plate with pastry.  Pour in blueberries, sprinkle with brown sugar and dot with butter.  Cover with top crust.  Bake 35 - 45 minutes at 425 degrees.


Peach/Blueberry

2 tbsp. lemon juice
3 cups peeled, pitted, sliced peaches (for step by step instructions on peeling peaches go to http://localfoods.about.com/od/summer/ss/PeelPeach.htm
1 cup blueberries
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp. quick cooking tapioca
1/2 tsp. salt


Put peaches and blueberries in a bowl and sprinkle with lemon juice.  Mix sugar, salt, and tapioca in a separate bowl.  Toss lightly with fruit.  Let stand 15 minutes.  Turn into pastry and cover with top crust.  Bake 45 to 50 minutes at 425 degrees.


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