I made this pie on Monday night (around 10 pm!) after we thought we’d recovered enough from our shared illnesses. Quick question: why would anyone who loved you not tell you their house was full of a summer plague? If I were that sick, I would guide possible guests towards the Holiday Inn or a B&B. Honestly–

So, the recovery pie–why blueberry? I am trying to catch up with what’s hiding in the fridge. Would you believe that in all my blueberry freezing from last week, I missed an entire quart? I think a wayward Viking must have swung by, hidden a box in his office, and then returned it to the fridge when The Freezing of Aught Eight was finished.

There are a myriad of pastry dough methods and recipes online (Bits of Time used Mark Bittman’s recipe, which sounds good!)–I prefer using butter, but in the spirit of using what we had in the pantry, I used vegan, non-trans fat (how is that possible if the oil is solid?) shortening. The recipe used is JOC’s (Joy of Cooking) Flaky Pastry Dough recipe.

The filling for this pie is a pretty JOC recipe: 5 cups of blueberries, some sugar (I used almost 3/4 of a cup), 4 tablespoons of cornstarch, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. Mix all that together and let sit for 15 minutes before assembling the actual pie with your pastry of choice.

I baked this at 425 for 20 minutes. The recipe says to bake it at this temp for 30 minutes, but I had to adjust the time because of the fluctuating oven temperature. Despite that, the pie turned out pretty well. I didn’t dismay over the unevenly browned top-crust, the filling sending all aesthetic concerns down the stream of oblivion.  I try to be fair with Missouri blueberries, I really do.  My conclusion is that fresh Missouri blueberries are not the same creature as a Maine wild blueberry. It must be that they lack a comparative acidity, because that tablespoon of lemon juice completely elevated and transformed their flavor.  I’ve never been moved to make fresh blueberry pie before, but this was worth it.  Next time I make a blueberry pie, I’m going to try a Mustikkapiirakka, which is basically a Finnish-style blueberry pie. I am curious about the use of cream in the pastry recipe.

Other pie recipes to try: Filipino Buko/Buco pie, via Heart of Rachel and The Home Baker. Only, of course, to use up the leftover young coconut in my freezer