Over the weekend, we visited Champney’s Farm in Ravenel to pick some blueberries.
Blueberries are the Gravy Baby’s hands-down favorite fruit. He eats them by the boatload whether they’re in season or not. As we were pulling up to the farm, the Gravy Baby was a little confused. “We’re not going to buy them from Costco?” he asked. It made my heart hurt a little that he thinks that blueberries come from a big box retailer.
The Gravy Baby and Gravy Too loved picking blueberries during a muggy Charleston afternoon
Pretty soon, he discovered that fresh-picked blueberries kick the pants out of store-bought ones, and his bucket never got fuller than what you see above. In fact, by the end of the afternoon, the hubby and I walked out with a gallon, and the Gravy Baby had none.
None, of course, unless you count the ones that made it into a blueberry pie and onto his plate. Waiting for pies to cool and set is for the birds, by the way. Piping hot and juicy is the only way to go, especially if you’re looking to soften some ice cream.
blueberry pie in the sky
Ingredients
- 2 pie crusts (I use Trader Joe’s premade crusts if I’m looking for a shortcut, or this excellent recipe for pate brisee if I want to do it right)
- 5 cups fresh blueberries
- 5 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- juice from 1/2 lemon
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Mix together cornstarch, sugar, lemon and cinnamon and toss with blueberries to coat.
- Line pie plate with pie crust and fill with blueberry mixture.
- Cover pie with the other half of a crust (if using pate brisee, or the second crust if using Trader Joe’s) or use a paring knife to cut strips to weave a lattice; seal and crimp edges firmly.
- Place a sheet of foil in the bottom of the oven (to catch berry juices that may leak out of pie during baking).
- Bake for 35 minutes, then reduce heat to 375 degrees and bake for 15-20 more minutes.
- Remove and set on a wire rack to cool at least 1 hour, until juices are set.
- Serve with vanilla ice cream.
That pie looks so good! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen B happily eating blueberries out of season, so I’ll steal one from him and it will be sour as all get out. He doesn’t mind though!