Expanding horizons: I make a second pie

This summer has been a season of expanding limits, and exploring new territory , in all kinds of ways. I have loved just about every minute of it. Much of that enjoyment has come from the friends who have been with me as it happened. This one is really about some of them, and how one change, somewhere else, can have a change in a place as different from the first one, as the kitchen.

Maybe it's unfair to say "this summer" has been when those changes happened, because as I think about it, as early as writing about "the squash king," I have been talking about these issues. And that was back in the early fall of last year. And the changes just keep on coming, friendships keep on deepening, and growing, and proving not only that "yes, you can do it," but rather "we ALL can do it. We ALL HAVE to do it, and we ALL HAVE to do it TOGETHER."

My friends Keith and David have been aboard for much of this ride, and you may have read about my foray into pie baking for Keith's birthday. Well, in a way, I can sit here and get emotional and say "my little brother is growing up," and perhaps I will. Keith has his own apartment now. Of course he's excited. But if you think I'm not, you're misreading me completely. And tomorrow, I get to see it! Keith is having a small party. Only six of us.

Being invited to a party like that is the height of an honor that someone can give you. We all know dozens of people, but to be among five guests, when it's someone you love? Now that calls for something special. But what did Keith ask for? Something that another friend would love. Nothing for himself.

Well... we'll see about that... But in terms of what he asked for, bottom line is , if he asks, I'll do it. And he asked for something with blueberries, our mutual friend David's favorite fruit.

Can you think of something more glorious than blueberry pie? Have you read about my pathological fear of pie baking? But, thanks to my successful cherry pie on Keith's birthday, I fearlessly plunged ahead and did my research, and found myself back with Rose Levy Beranbaum's book in hand. At first, I thought of a standard double crust pie. But then, when I read her description of how stunning an open faced pie was, and I thought of those dark, bluish purples in a shiny glaze, there it was. Open faced.

But... The crust was not the one I had sort of mastered for Keith's pie. It was another one.

Remember what I said about expanding boundaries? So, with a quick prayer to my Nana, who seems to be around these days, I went into the kitchen.

If it tastes as good as it looks, it's a smashing success. And I will admit that I tasted the filling, and it's good. In fact, it's VERY GOOD. More to the point, as Keith would say "it doesn't suck."

Here it is. First, you make your crust. And to do this one, which is a very short, butter crust, you need a stick of butter, divided unevenly: five tablespoons and three. Make sure it's unsalted butter. Cut each piece into small cubes. Put the three ounces of butter into the freezer, wrapped. You can keep the five in the fridge. Then, mix up 1.25 cups of flour with a quarter teaspoon of salt and a quarter teaspoon of baking powder, put that in a bag, and freeze that too. You can freeze them for as little as thirty minutes, I used about half a day.

When you're getting ready to mix the crust, get a half cup or so of iced water ready. You won't need a lot, but it's good to have it there, so you can just dip in, freely. And also have about a tablespoon of cider vinegar ready. Again, you won't need it all, but it's good to have it there in case you do something silly like spill it (NOT that I did that....). Put your flour mixture into a food processor, and then add the five tablespoons of butter. Process this for twenty seconds, that's all. You'll get something like corn meal. Now, add the frozen butter, and pulse. I counted, and it took me twelve pulses to get something like small peas. Then, toss in 2-3 tablespoons of iced water and a teaspoon and a half of the vinegar, and pulse a few times. You won't get a ball of dough, and you shouldn't. You'll get something that begins to clump. Pour that all back into your flour bag, and seal it. Then, press it with your palm, your fingers, etc, to get a nice round disc. You'll be surprised how easily this happens, and how clean your kitchen stays. Then, put that disc into the fridge, preferably for overnight. I wouldn't take it out in less than five hours. What you're doing is giving everything a chance to rest.

The next day, get the dough out of the fridge. I was stunned as to how soft it was. I thought I would need to let it set for several hours, but I was ready to roll this in twenty minutes (It is here, that I realized, I had erred on putting in too little water, and it was difficult to roll out an even crust. I would go with 3 tablespoons of water, unless you have a very humid day). Use enough flour to make your work easy, and roll on parchment if you have it, or a cloth, something to keep the dough from sticking. Ms. Beranbaum says to roll to a 12 inch circle. I don't think mine was quite that big or as even as a circle should be, but it worked. I pressed it into a pie pan, and then refrigerated it for another two hours.

When I was ready to bake, I preheated the oven to 425, and then covered the crust with parchment, and lots of old brown rice that I'm not going to cook. This is, in fact, the way most open faced pies are baked, i.e, "blind," with weights to keep them from puffing up. During the twenty minutes of baking, the kitchen smelled wonderfully toasty and buttery. Then I took the pie out of the oven, and pricked the surface with a fork. (this is called "docking" by the way. You can buy a professional pastry docker, which is also a tool used during sex play on feet....(not the same one you use on your pies, please), but a fork is fine.)

Don't go there.

After five minutes, I took the crust out of the oven and let it cool for three minutes.

This pie gets a wet filling. So to keep the crust from becoming too soggy, you need to seal it. You can do this well with an egg white. Or, two egg whites if you forget you have one on the counter, pick up the bowl it's in, toss the liquid and then say "where the hell is that egg white?" (NOT that this happened to me). Once you DO have your egg white, brush it all over the inside of your crust. You may see the albumin in the egg cook to little white strips, but if you don't, that's okay too. In fact, it's better. It means the crust isn't too hot.

Now, time to make the filling. And this is really, REALLY neat. I have found that most pie filling recipes are too chintzy for me. The one I was working with called for four cups of fruit. I did something that you should always do before you fill a pie. I took the pie plate I was working with, and filled it with four cups of berries. It looked REALLY stingy. So I used six. That meant, of course, that I had to increase all other ingredients by half. No problem. The "other ingredients" were water, sugar, lemon juice and corn starch. Start by taking two cups of blueberries and mixing them with 3/4 cup of water in a pot. Cook this over low heat. The boiling water will begin to break up the berries, and after 3-4 minutes, or less, you'll basically have "sauce." That cooking time will give you enough time to measure out 3/4 cups of sugar, and mix 3 tablespoons of cornstarch with three tablespoons of cold water. Also, squeeze the juice out of one half lemon (Go easy here. Lemon can easily overwhelm blueberries, but don't leave it out, because....).

Add the sugar to the glaze mixture. You'll get an immediate change in color, to something nice and glossy. Then add the lemon juice and BAM. Watch what happens. I don't know if this is universally true, but most food colors that are red or pink are acidic, and most blue or purple ones are basic. If you change pH by adding acid, the red elements in the blue colors come out. That's why you add vinegar to red cabbage, for example (which, for some reason is called blue cabbage in Southern Germany: blaukraut). The lemon pushed the blueberry color from dark, midnight blue, to a midnight fuschia. GORGEOUS. Then, off the heat, stir in the whole berries, all four cups, very gently.

Pour all of this thick, wonderful, tasty mess into the pie crust, and then let it cool at room temperature. Keep a cover on it, because, this being summer, you know you have flies in the house.

Don't refrigerate the pie. That fridge will dry out that beauty so fast, you'll regret it. No, leave it out, safe from yourself, pets, lovers, visitors, and it will keep for a couple of days, which is all I really need.

I want to take pictures of this one. There are few times when I say "I'm really proud of how my food looks." This time, I am.

And I couldn't think of a better occasion for it. My friends, my pals, my loves, this is for you.