Very Berry Pie

Very Berry Pie

Triple Berry, Quadruple Berry, Blackberry, Blueberry--it doesn't matter, Very Berry Pie is delicious.   I see no reason to make a fuss over the sort of berries used (although I'm very picky about what sort of apples I use in that kind of pie so perhaps I ought to be more discriminating).  Pie is something I am pretty good at.  Well, maybe that's an overstatement.  I make a mean crust and the best apple pie you will ever taste.  But that's as far as my pie-making goes.  I've made Very Berry Pies before, but it was a long time ago and I don't remember what recipe I used.  Maybe it was magic, but if it was, it went undocumented and I could never make it again.

Defrosting berries--blackberries, raspberries, blueberries,
strawberries, and cherries. 

So basically, I'm starting this Berry Pie process from scratch.  I'm hampered by the seven-months-till our wedding mark, as well as I-wanna-be-healthy-thing.  Which is not to say I can't make pie; it just means I can't make eight of them, testing different recipes to find the perfect one.  I just need to do my research and really know what I want.

1) I want to use frozen berries.  I'm not using top-notch fresh berries in a pie when I could just eat them with a little cream or straight off the bush.  Yes, I know it's a noble cause, but fresh is fresh and summer only comes once a year.  And I'd rather use frozen berries picked at their peak (hopefully) than travel-weary strawberries from California in February any day.

2) I was a recipe light on the sugar.  This is not purely for my health's sake, but simply because vast quantities of sugar is not delicious by itself.  There's a reason nobody just takes a spoon and eats pure sugar (nobody I know, anyway).  You can't make something delicious by pumping it full of sugar, and in a situation like this where the flavors are tart and complex, sugar is only going to mask those flavors without really adding much.

Egg wash and sugar sprinkle. 

3) I want a non-soupy pie.  There's nothing worse (and it's happened to me more times than not) than a pie that runs around the dish and ruins a beautiful crust and slides and slops off your server.  It looks bad, it feels bad.  Many a pie is pulled from the oven, bubbling gently, and set aside to cool in an agony of suspense--will it set? Is it thick enough? Is it too thick? Too thick is a possibility, after all.  We don't want a rubbery pie, either.  And finally...


4) I want a kick of something extra.  This is where my research really comes in.  I'm not sure what the extra thing should be.  Some people add cinnamon.  Some add lemon juice.  Some add lemon juice and lemon zest.  What if I added vanilla?  Or some other extract?  Almond extract?

I scoured the internet for recipes.  Each one claimed to be more delicious than the last--but that that "something extra" is what I was really looking for--I wanted to set my pie apart from just sugar and berries (don't get me wrong, berries and sugar are
delicious, but not very memorable).  I finally settled on this recipe from Saveur.  I've cooked from Saveur's recipes quite a bit, and they tend to be fairly solid, if not always quite my palate.  It promised to have character.

Perfection.

Isn't she a beauty?  I'm taking her to a party, so it's important to have presentation.  I'm very pleased with the result, although I will do a couple of things differently next time.  I'll try slashing the sugar a 1/4 cup more.  This was just a touch too sweet.  And I will stay my hand where the nutmeg is concerned.  I didn't have fresh nutmeg to grate so I just used a dash... and then, without any wisdom whatsoever, added a second dash.  It's a bit nutmeggy.  Good, but nutmeggy.  Which isn't really what I wanted.  I wanted a slight earthiness, and a wistful wondering of what that "something extra" might be... not flavor that clubbed you over the head with NUTMEGNESS!!

It was a good night in the kitchen.  Whilst I created pie, my fiance created tacos, and I made my pico de gallo.  I've had a love-hate relationship with this dish.  It's one (the only one?) I don't use a recipe for, and it hasn't turned out too brilliantly the last few times, mostly because the jalapenos I have bought were not spicy enough.  I took matters into my own hands this time.  I bought four, sliced them all open, and sampled each.  Two could have been bell peppers they were so mild.  A third was pleasantly spicy and I ended up using that.  The fourth pepper was really spicy.

Mikey took this picture.  He wanted to help for my blog. 

Also this picture.  It's called "Spatula in Motion."