Thursday, July 17, 2014

Mixed Berry Pie

It's berry time, and the berries are bountiful!!  The growing season is producing gorgeous strawberries, blueberries (my favorite) and raspberries.  I even have a strawberry plant potted on my deck that is giving us delicious morsels (thanks to you sister Shelly)!  Yumm...

 What to do with abundant berries?  Make a pie!!  And I admit this is the first pie I've ever made,  (with a homemade ROLLED pie crust)...and with a little vanilla ice cream, DELICIOUS!!!  Why have I waited so long??


MIXED BERRY PIE
(a recipe from David Lebovitz, "Ready For Dessert")

Pie Dough (recipe follows)

2 cups hulled and sliced strawberries
2 cups blueberries
2 cups raspberries or blackberries
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1 large egg yolk
1 tsp. cream
1 Tbsp. granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 400.
Lightly flour work surface and roll out one disk of dough into a 14 inch circle.  Drape it into a 9 inch pie plate.  Trim away the excess dough, leaving a slight overhang.
In a large bowl, gently mix the berries with the 1/2 cup sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice.  Transfer berry mixture to the dough-lined plate.
Roll out the second dough disk into a 14 inch circle.  Moisten the exposed edges of the dough in the pie plate with water, then drape the second dough circle over the top.  Working all the way around the pie. tuck the upper dough edges under the lower dough edges and crimp.
In small bowl, whisk the egg yolk and cream.  Brush the top crust with the wash and sprinkle with 1 Tbsp. sugar.  Pierce the crust with a paring knife in 6 places
Bake until top is browned and filling juices are bubbling, 50 to 60 min.  If crust is browning too quickly, loosely cover with aluminum foil.
Let pie cool for 1 hour before serving.

PIE DOUGH

2 1/2 cups flour
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch cubes and chilled
6-8 Tbsp. ice water

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment mix together the flour, sugar, and salt.  Add the chilled butter and mix just until butter is broken up into rough 1/4 inch pieces.
Add 6 Tbsp. ice water all at once and continue mixing just until the dough begins to hold together.  If necessary, mix in the additional 2 Tbsp.
Turn dough onto a work surface.  Divide in half and form each into a disk 1 inch thick.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE QUOTE


Georgia O'Keeffe once said,
 "When I think of death, 
I only regret that I will not be able
 to see this beautiful country anymore."

Monday, July 14, 2014

A MORNING WALK


Wild flowers brighten my daily walks in July.  An abundance of yellow, blue and white.  Even the weeds have a beauty all their own...dandelion...thistle...milkweed.  Their perfumes waft and mix, so earthy, green, and sweet.  My favorite....and for some reason brings me back to childhood... is the clover...sweet clover.....

AN EVENING WALK

     Smoke from the Canadian wildfires has been enhancing our sunsets this week and making my evening walks more beautiful.  I was out Thursday night when I encountered an "other worldly" gorgeously spectacular sunset...why,why didn't I have my camera!!  A massive glowing orb, surrounded by clouds of every shade of white, gray, peach, pink and purple...brushed on to the sky by what looked like a maniac's paint brush.  An open manganese blue sky hole shaped like an eye circled the sun while orange iridescent sun rays flitted outward from the top of the eye like a fringe of eyelash.  Did you happen to see it too?  And if this wasn't enough...the western sky competed with the east...which was brightened by a largess of a full moon beaming behind backlit swiftly moving pastel clouds.  So, so dramatically lovely...I wish you could have been there with me :)