Saguaro National Park in Tuscon, AZ
Still new to this pie-making business, I had no clue that pie had a season. I knew football and baseball had a season, and obviously Christmas cookies had one, but pie? I shrugged it off and hadn't given it much thought other than a funny memory from a great trip. But as I was making this pie for our neighborhood block party, it hit me. It's pie season. Like my sister-in-law, I was raised in the Midwest where most fruit is only good a few months out of the year. Sure, I associated fruit pie with Summer, but that's just because that's when Mom gave it to us. Like pumpkin pie in November. Finally, I understood what she meant. Pie season isn't just about having good fruit available to make the pie, it's about the memories and tradition associated with eating it. (Think gingham tableclothes and lemon shake-ups.) Add this to the list of things to teach Annalyn... everything has a season, including pie.
The first time I saw the Grand Canyon
Blueberry-Peach Pie.
Ingredients:
-pastry for two-crust pie (Yes, I bought mine. Did I mention I have a 5 month old? Don't judge my semi-homemade methods!)
-3/4 c. sugar
-1/2 c. all-purpose flour
-1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
-2 c. blueberries
-2 1/2 c. fresh peaches, sliced (about 3 medium)
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Make pastry (or save lots of time and use the refrigerated roll-out kind. I honestly don't have a great recipe for pie crust so I can't justify taking the time to make it from scratch all the time. I recommend the Pillsbury roll-out crusts.)
2. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients. Place blueberries in pastry-lined pie plate; sprinkle with half the sugar mixture.
3. Top with peaches; sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture.
packing the fruit tightly helps keep the pie from
falling too much in the middle during baking
4. Cover with top pastry, make fun design or cut a few slits in the top; flute edges. Cover edges with foil or pie crust shield (which I highly recommend!). Betty recommends removing the foil the last 15 min of baking, but when I use the pie crust shield, I usually leave it on the entire time.
made with love in Indiana
my favorite way to flute the edges, and it's super easy!
Pie crust shielded-up!
5. Bake 35 to 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust.
Happy pie season!
Love, Mama
Your first paragraph makes me homesick for AZ. Why did we move?
ReplyDeleteI also can't cook fruit pies out of order.
Strawberry-Rhubarb first (the only time I make my pie crust), then blueberry (conveniently around our anniversary/father's day), followed by apple, and finally pumpkin. Always the same, every year.
Your picture of fluting makes it look easy- I never do that well.
Wow, I have so much to learn! Love the pie order... such a cool tradition you and your kids can look forward to each year. That's another thing I absolutely love about being a mom - the chance to make our own little family traditions.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think we should all take another trip out to AZ! It was so pretty, and seemed like there was so much to see there. Maybe for our 10th anniversaries we can all go out and renew our vows in that funny little chapel with found :)
So I was looking for some of your early recipes, now that Eli is trying food (he can't get his tongue under control) and found this comment. I hadn't saw it before.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great idea! I was just thinking that if Brian works in his lab for 3 years (the contract is a 1 year term, renewable up to 3 years) we'll be looking for a new place again right before our ten year anniversary... maybe we'll be further west by then so it's not such a long trip from here.