This is my second attempt at pie.

It has been confirmed.

I suck at making pies.

Tom may disagree.

But, he is not the one that has to fight and shout at the stupid pie dough when it comes out of the resting stage in the refrigerator, and instead of being nice and pliable and smooth and silky when rolling out, I get a sticky, temperamental dough.

I hate PIE CRUST.

I’m 2 to 0 and piecrust is winning it.

Beating my ass, if I’m ever truthful.

I cannot seem to get it and just make a simple, piecrust. It’s driving me batty.

Pie making at our household has been temporarily put on hold.

In the meantime here is the blueberry pie that I made Tom over the weekend.

See those blueberries?

I. picked. them.

Yep, woke up at 7am on a SATURDAY (that is how much you are loved my boy) so I could go with my best buddy Steph to somewhere in town (she was driving, and I was not paying attention) to meet up with two other friends in a place that had lots of farmland and smelled of horses, to pick blueberries.

I never knew that blueberries grew on a bush. As luck would have it, a tall bush.

It was glorious to be one with the land. I now get how gratifying it is to cook what you grow.

I see a patch of garden full of “stuff” that grows so I can pick it, and cook it in my future.

Just like I did this pie.

BLUEBERRY PIE

Pie Dough

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
16 tablespoons cold (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
¼ to ½ cup ice water

In a food processor, combine flour, salt, and sugar; pulse to combine. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with just a few pea-size pieces of butter remaining.

Sprinkle with ¼ cup ice water. Pulse until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed with fingers (if necessary, add up to 1/4 cup more water, 1 tablespoon at a time). To help ensure a flaky crust, do not over process.

Transfer half of dough (still crumbly) onto a piece of plastic wrap. Form dough into a disk 3/4 inch thick; wrap tightly in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour (and up to 3 days). Repeat with remaining dough. (Disks can be frozen, tightly wrapped, up to 3 months. Thaw before using.) Makes 2 disks.

BLUEBERRY FILLING

3 pints (6 cups) blueberries, rinsed, drained and picked over
¾ cup sugar
4 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
¼ teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
3 tablespoons butter, cold, cut into 10 pieces

Put 1 cup of the blueberries and all the sugar in a medium saucepan. Set the pan over low heat and stir often to bruise the berries so that they release their juices as the mixture heats up and they dissolve the sugar. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the berry mixture is boiling.

While the berry mixture is coming to a boil, whisk the cornstarch and water together in a small bowl. Stir about ½ cup of the blueberry juices into the cornstarch mixture, and then pour the cornstarch mixture into the boiling berry juices, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula. Cook, stirring constantly, until the juices thicken, return to a boil, and become clear.

Put the remaining berries in a large bowl with the lemon zest and juice and use a large rubber spatula to fold in the thickened juices. Fold in the butter and scrape the filling into the prepared pie crust.

Set a rack at the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees. Roll out the bottom crust and arrange in one, 9-inch Pyrex pie pan. Pour the cooled filling into the bottom crust. Prepare a pretty top crust - they are so many ways of doing this. Flute the edge of the pie and carefully brush it with egg wash. If you wish, sprinkle the top of the pie with sugar.

Place the pie in the oven on the lower rack and reduce the temperature to 375 degrees F. Bake for about 40 minutes, until the crust is baked through and a deep golden brown and the filling is gently bubbling. If the top crust has not colored sufficiently after 30 minutes of baking, move the pie to the upper rack of the oven for the last 10 minutes. Cool the pie on a rack.