It's All about the Fruit

2/14/15 - Today being Valentine's Day, I wanted to bake something special for my husband Rich.  I suggested that he could choose any pie from the "Four and Twenty Blackbirds" pie book, which I am attempting to bake my way through.  One interesting aspect of the cook book is that the sisters believe in using unusual ingredients in their delicious recipes.  I was unable to find several ingredients for the "Lavender Honey Custard Pie", his first choice.  This one will have to be delayed until I return to Asheville and can get these at Greenlife Grocery or Earth Fare.  So on to his second choice, "Nectarine Blueberry Pie".  Another integral part of these pie recipes is that they use fresh ingredients. The authors encourage us to use those fruits that are actually in season where you live. So, if I were making this pie in Asheville, summer would be the perfect time to find blueberries and nectarines at the farmers' markets.  Here in Florida, that would be spring, and it is still a tad early.  So I had to settle for the blueberries and nectarines from Chile.  They actually look and taste good, but locally grown would obviously be better.

Since this is my first blog about pies, I want to talk briefly about the pie making process.  The crust is the key to the wonderful flavor of these pies.  I have honestly never had a crust that is this good, and I have eaten a lot of pies in my life (My pie and dessert eating is almost equal to my exercise frequency).  The Elsen sisters have come up with the perfect formula for crust.  Even though they say that you can buy store crusts, don't, if you decide to try their recipes.  If I can make a crust this good, you can too, and it is well worth the trouble.  This trouble involves making the crust ahead, refrigerating, and then using at the time you are doing the filling.  So I usually plan on making the pie over a 2 day period.

I will say that the nectarine blueberry pie was the easiest pie that I have made from the cook book. There were very few extra ingredients, other than lemon juice and a few spices.  But the most amazing thing was that there was no added sugar in the recipe!!  I did sprinkle demerara sugar over the top crust, but this is optional.  So, you can have a pie slice without the guilt of eating the sugar! The pie is just crust and fruit!  Of course, there is plenty of butter in the crust, but let's not talk about that on Valentine's Day.

According to Rich, the pie was delicious and sweet enough for him with just the natural juices.  For my taste, a dollop of whipped cream and a little ice cream (I tried both), made it the perfect sweetness My guess is that with locally grown, in season, fresh sweet blueberries, and either nectarines or peaches, the pie would be just perfect without the cream. And the crust was as luscious as usual.

Bottom line:  I would definitely make this pie again, but will make when the fruit is locally in season.When I think about this pie, I am reminded of the current pop hit from Meghan Trainor, called "All about That Bass". I have been humming "It's all about the fruit, about the fruit, no sugar"!