Our best friends were bringing pizza over for dinner last night. I promised not to fuss since we are leaving in 2 days for the west coast. Those who know me know that me not fussing is an oxymoron , but I tried.
The challenge was to see if I could avoid going to the store (or should I say sending my husband) since we’ll be gone for a week. As it is, I’ve been trying to empty out the fridge and pantry this week anyway.
I made a huge salad with all the veggies left in the crisper to serve with the pizza.
To go along with drinks I served store bought hummus, Trader Joe’s Red Pepper Spread with Eggplant and Garlic, and Trader Joe’s Green Olive Tapenade, with assorted crackers and chips. All things I had on hand, and if you haven’t tried them, you should.
Realizing I had a lot of eggs still in the fridge I made deviled eggs to serve as appetizers as well. Still no trips to the store needed, and the eggs were a big hit!
What to serve for dessert? I had home made pastry for one crust in the freezer so I defrosted it. In the fridge were 4 to 5 cups of blueberries that if left for the week would spoil, but were just ripe enough for a blueberry pie filling.
Since I didn’t have a second disc for a top crust I decided to make a streusel topping with oats, sugar, and butter.
This pie was really delicious, and was the result of checking about 3 different recipes and picking and choosing from each. I’m hoping I can remember exactly what I did because this is a blueberry pie worth passing on to you, and I will definitely be making it again.
Oh, and my husband only had to make one trip to the store for the vanilla ice cream to top the pie!
Blueberry Streusel Pie
(adapted from Plum-Blackberry Streusel Pie, Gourmet, July, 2009 and Summer Berry Pies, Martha Stewart Living, July 2010, and Farm Journal’s Complete Pie Cookbook)
Dough for one single crust pie
5 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed and picked over, stems removed
1 and 1/3 cups sugar (more or less depending on sweetness of the berries)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
juice of ½ lemon
¼ teaspoon salt
Streusel Topping
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
½ cup flour
½ cup sugar
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
½ teaspoon salt
9 and ½ to 10 inch pie plate
1. Place a foil-lined baking sheet in lower third of oven and preheat to 425 degrees. I used the convection bake feature of my oven, but regular bake is okay.
note: If you do have a convection feature you will find it results in an especially flaky pie crust. If yours does not automatically reduce the temp you will need to reduce the temp by 25 degrees, and most likely cut back a bit on the baking time.
2. Toss the blueberries with the sugar, tapioca, cornstarch lemon juice and salt in a large bowl.
3. Roll out dough into a 13-inch round on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin. Fit into a pie plate. Trim excess dough, leaving a ½-inch overhang. Fold overhang under and press against the rim of pie plate, then crimp decoratively. Chill while making the streusel.
Note: An easy way to fit the dough into the pie plate is to roll it up on the pin and then unroll it over the pie plate, gently fitting it into place.
4. For streusel, stir together oats, flour, and ½ cup sugar and ½ teaspoon salt. Blend in butter with your fingertips or pastry blender until mixture forms small clumps.
Mound filling in shell.
Crumble streusel evenly over filling.
Bake pie at 425 degrees for about 45 minutes. Then reduce oven temp to 400 degrees and bake another 15 minutes or until streusel is golden and juices are bubbling. If the top begins to brown too much cover loosely with a sheet of aluminum foil. Cool completely, 3 to 4 hours.
