Pie, Pie, Pie

For all those parents out there that watch kids shows over and over and over again, sometimes they can inspire you.  In watching one of my son's favorite show "Word World" there was an episode about pies.  My little 2 year old can now spell pie and it got me thinkg that I should try to make pie.  Not that filling in a jar, pre-made crust kind, good old fashioned fruit pie from scratch.  The search for a good pie crust was on.  I checked a couple of books to no avail and then went straight to Martha, after all she has yet to steer me wrong!  Being my first pie I went for a basic pie crust recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/basic-pie-crust and began my adventure.  The next was to select my filling...  In my freezer was were some wild blackberries left over from my jam experience that were just begging to be baked into a crust of yumminess.  I didn't think I had enough for a pie so I searched and found a recipe for an Apple-Blackberry Pie: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/apple-blackberry-pie-with-fall-leaves-pate-brisee.  If you know me you know that recipes are merely guidelines and although I stuck to the pie crust recipe, the filling was up in the air.  I read the comments and changed the sugar to 3/4 cup and added a little lemon zest to "kick it up a notch".  I can say it was easy but I really think it was touch and go there for a bit.  I had to add a little water to the dough to help it stick a bit and even then I was not sure how it would turn out.  I baked it for an hour and 25 minutes until it was nice and golden and let it cool before serving it a la mode to the family.  SUCCESS, for my first pie ever!  Flaky crust, just the right amount of sweetness and hardly any bubbling over of berry juices.  With a great start to pie making I may set my sights a bit higher next time and try an apple pie with a cheese crust....

Blackberry Jam Extravaganza

There are many things that I have yet to try but my aunts homemade jam is not one of them. I'll take a jar of their pineapple apricot or strawberry over any store bought specialty item any day! But as time goes on so do the years and my aunts are starting to get tired of making jam and other delights year in and year out. That was my cue to step up and learn. For the last several months I have been talking about wanting to make blackberry jam(my favorite). We are extremely lucky to live in an area where these buds of tastiness are plentiful and often free, that is if you are brave enough to face the thorns. The date was set and this labour day long weekend was it, my chance to get up close and personal with some berries. With the help of a super market and some friends with jars, I collected supplies and was off. Sunday was D-day, or should I say B-day! The picking began in the early afternoon, with a great vastness of blackberry bushes and a kind neighbor who let us pick on their property the buckets and their carriers were on a mission. The mission: fight the thorny, prickly, and often aggressive and violent blackberry bushes for the treasured berries. Some came armed with sneakers and old shirts, others not so prepared came in open toed shoes(a big no no) but the most important thing was that they came! For hours under the sun, amidst the bees and surrounded by the occasional snake we picked. We picked until our our fingers were purple from the berries and the thorn pricks and our legs looked like "Zorro" had been there. In the end we estimated 50lbs of berries took up most of the fridge space. After a day like that it was great to share a turkey dinner with all the trimmings with the family! Thanks!!

Monday morning the hard work began early. After a nice breakfast it was off to rinsing the berries, straining the berries, cooking the berries, straining again the berries, measuring the berries and making the jam.... This paired with sanitizing jars, measuring sugar, stirring constantly and a whole lot of arguing back and forth over what should be done next, took up most of the morning. Once we took a pit stop for lunch and shelled some fresh caught dungeness crab it was back to work. Now came the fun part filling the jars, sterilizing the lids, and my favorite, testing the jam! YAY after all this painstaking labour it was done and delicious. I was not afraid to share the riches and breakfast the following morning at work was bread, butter and yes, you guessed it, homemade blackberry jam! The torch has been passed and it's now my turn to continue the tradition with the years of fresh fruit ahead....

Blueberries in Season

Berry season out here in the Vancouver area is absolutely wonderful time of year. Choices of local farms to pick your own berries abound (I love Krauseberry Farms) and you also have the option to go organic, Formosa Nursery in Pitt Meadows. If you are too lazy or don't want to hurt your back, the farms usually give you the option to pay a little more and you can purchase already picked berries.

Now the conundrum is, what to do with the buckets of berries once you have them home? I try not to over pick, but the sight of juicy, ripe, succulent berries always gets the better of me. My kids suffer from the same syndrome...

Here is what I did...

Being obsessed with everything French, I am trying my inexperienced hand at reproducing some popular french desserts at home. I recently discovered a dessert called a Galette; they are types of flat, round or freeform crusty cakes that can have a variety of different fillings. Since I have a plethora of blueberries that I have to free some fridge space of and some frozen blackberries, they will be the chosen flavour of my very first galette.

I discovered a recipe on Cooking Light that included cornmeal in the dough of the crust, and I have to say after making this, I could eat this crust just on its own. It added a little bit of wonderful to the texture of the dessert.

Using fresh ingredients is the key, but if it is off season, frozen berries do work as well.

Pastry-

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (about 7 3/4 ounces)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup cornmeal
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/3 cup fat-free buttermilk

Filling-

• 4 cups blueberries
• 2 cups blackberries
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons fat-free milk
• 1 large egg white
• 1 1/2 tablespoons turbinado sugar

To prepare pastry, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour and next 3 ingredients (through salt) in a food processor; pulse two times. Add butter to flour mixture; pulse 4 to 5 times or until mixture resembles coarse meal. With processor on, slowly add buttermilk through food chute; process just until dough forms a ball. Gently press dough into a 4-inch circle on plastic wrap; cover. Chill 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Unwrap and place dough on a sheet of parchment paper. Place a piece of plastic wrap over dough before rolling to avoid sticking to your pin. Roll dough into a 15-inch circle and place dough and parchment on a baking sheet.

To prepare filling, combine berries and next 3 ingredients (through juice) in a medium bowl; toss gently to coat. Arrange berry mixture in center of dough, leaving a 2-inch border. Fold edges of dough toward center, pressing gently to seal (dough will only partially cover berry mixture).

Combine fat-free milk and egg white in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Brush dough with milk mixture; sprinkle turbinado sugar evenly over dough. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until pastry is golden brown. Let stand 30 minutes; cut into wedges.

This dessert oozes not only berry juice, but rustic charm and amazing flavour. This recipe will become a staple in my household and I am so excited to try a different fruit. Maybe apple/marscapone, apricot/almond, pear/blueberry... the possibilites are endless.

Here is a little hint; it is a very easy dessert to make, but believe me, I won't be divulging that little secret to my guests any time soon.