Blueberry!

I'm truly amazed at how quickly pie can disappear with a large group. While watching the England/USA World Cup game at my parents house, I contributed a blueberry pie for dessert for a crowd of 11.

This was my second attempt at the blueberry and both have turned out extremely well. It may be my new favorite because it's so easy to make and it's really delicious. It starts out with 5 cups of fresh plump blueberries, which is about 3 of the average size square plastic containers. I'm a very picky produce shopper, so I'll stand there and dig through the display until I find the right ones - evenly sized and plump are usually sweet and hold up really well with this recipe. Other than the blueberries, you just need half a lemon, white sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt and pie crusts. It's a great one to make at someone else's house because most people have the cabinet staples and you're really just picking up the produce and pie crusts - which only cost $10 total at my grocery store.

Pie went into the oven a little before halftime and cooked during the rest of the game, while we ate lunch. When it came out to cool, lunch was over and I was hoping people had the patience to wait for it to set up a little more. I probably should have popped it in before the match, but I was running late to the house and a bit of soccer trumped immediate baking on arrival. When I started cutting into it after resting for 30-45 minutes, I was a little afraid we might have pie soup but the berries were mostly intact and while juicy, it stayed together well when served up.

The real treat was the addition of mascarpone cheese that my dad's coworker had picked up at the farmer's market that morning. It had been accidentally left out instead of refrigerated, so the smooth fluffy consistency was a happy accident. The temperature was more tempered to the warm pie and the slight tangy flavor went well with the berries. One of the reasons I like this pie is because it's not too sweet. You get the berries natural sweetness, but not too much more like I've found blueberry pies can be sometimes.

By the time I was scooping out the last few pieces, I had a used empty bowl next to me from my dad wanting a second helping since he missed the mascarpone on the first piece. This coming from the man who didn't even want pie (except cherry) the night before, a testament to it's tastiness. The group killed the whole pie in one fell swoop and it was a crowd pleaser. It probably helped that I made them wait a little bit...

 Here's the recipe...

Blueberry Pie

2 pie crusts

5 cups fresh blueberries

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Butter to dot

Sprinkle berries with lemon juice, set aside. Place lower pie crust in pie pan, poking with a fork a few times.

Combine sugar, flour, salt & cinnamon and add to berries, stirring gently. Pour into pie pan & dot with butter. Cover with top pie crust & cut holes to vent.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 15 minutes or until golden. Cover the crust edges with foil, or a crust protector to prevent over browning.

Serves 8
(or 11, if you can make it stretch)