{"id":26290,"date":"2018-07-24T10:40:27","date_gmt":"2018-07-24T14:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=26290"},"modified":"2018-07-24T10:40:30","modified_gmt":"2018-07-24T14:40:30","slug":"on-your-table-its-national-blueberry-month-lets-eat-pie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=26290","title":{"rendered":"On Your Table: It’s National Blueberry Month — let’s eat pie!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Cathy Branciaroli<\/strong>, Food Correspondent, The Times<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

What better way to celebrate National Blueberry Month than with a mouthwatering pie.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cEverybody in the car!\u201d\u00a0 On scorching hot July Ohio mornings, my mother, siblings and I headed out in our trusty station wagon to an abandoned blueberry farm near town where we filled turkey roasters with scads of perfectly ripe dusky-colored blueberries for canning, baking and just plain eating.\u00a0 It was quite a job for us little ones.\u00a0 \u201cReach higher,\u201d mom urged but our short arms could barely reach the top branches as we worked our way down what seemed like endless rows of bushes.<\/p>\n

The sun was merciless on those mid-summer mornings, but we filled our roasters, loaded up our haul and returned home where we beat the heat by enjoying kid stuff like running through the sprinkler on the grass. \u00a0It was only after dinner that mom gave us our reward.\u00a0 And what a treat it was.\u00a0 We gobbled down our hard-earned fruit on top of vanilla ice cream thinking the world was pretty cool.<\/p>\n

Blueberry pies developed into a specialty of the house.\u00a0 Mom became an expert at making them, especially for my father\u2019s birthday in mid-July.\u00a0 He craved nothing more than blueberry pie for his celebration.\u00a0 No cake for him. \u00a0Nothing of the sort. Just those luscious pies topped with lighted candles.<\/p>\n

It might seem like an odd choice, but why not?\u00a0 After all, July is National Blueberry Month and they are the ideal fruit for pies.\u00a0 While other berries melt and fall apart under heat, blueberries blossom.\u00a0 They puff up and stiffen, never losing their shape.\u00a0 Heat intensifies their tart yet low acid flavor.\u00a0 They also are the perfect\u00a0ingredient for a guilt-free indulgence, with more antioxidants per ounce than any other fruit, high in Vitamin C and low in calories.<\/p>\n

In Chester County we we share the same climate sweet spot as New Jersey where they happen to be the state fruit.\u00a0 And luckily for all the blueberry pickers out there, we have two nearby farms offering pick-your-own blueberries this month.\u00a0 Both Highland Orchards at 1000 Marshalltown-Thorndale Rd near West Chester (610) 269-3494 and Linvilla Orchards at 137 W. Knowlton Rd just outside of Media (610) 876-7116 have blueberries for the picking or for sale at their farm market stands.\u00a0 Call first if picking is your preference to make sure they are still available.<\/p>\n

Folks use blueberries in so many ways, from pancake toppings, to muffin enhancers, to red-white-blue parfaits, to pies.\u00a0 Myself, I\u2019m partial to pies like my father.\u00a0 As a fair-to-middling blueberry pie baker, I\u2019ve tried many variations, and they were all wonderful. But my curiosity was piqued in seeing a recipe with a twist.\u00a0 This approach takes a savory turn with the addition of goat cheese and basil.\u00a0\u00a0 The crunch of toasted almond slivers scattered on top create a satisfying texture contrast, and tossing in lemon zest brightens the dessert.\u00a0 Scoops of ice cream are almost unnecessary to complete this lovely summer treat.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Blueberry Goat Cheese Pie
\n<\/u><\/strong>Inspired by 3 Sisters Caf\u00e9, Indianapolis
\n<\/em>Ingredients:
\n<\/strong>For Crust:<\/u>
\n2 cups flour
\n\u00bd to \u00be cup cold butter
\n1 tbs sugar
\nPinch of salt and 2-3 tbs cold water
\nFor Filling:<\/u>
\n\u00bd cup softened goat cheese
\n\u00bd cup heavy cream
\n1 large egg
\n\u00bd cup brown sugar
\n\u00bc cup flour
\nPinch of salt
\n1 tbs finely chopped fresh basil (or less to taste)
\n5 cups fresh blueberries
\nFor Topping:<\/u>
\n\u00becup sliced almonds lightly toasted
\n\u00bc cup sugar
\n2 tbs melted butter
\n1-2 tbs zested lemon reserved for final finishing
\nPreparation:
\n<\/strong>For the crust:\u00a0 Combine flour, butter, sugar and salt.\u00a0 Pulse lightly in a food processor till size of small peas.\u00a0 Slowly add water until dough comes together.\u00a0 Turn out in a ball and wrap in plastic wrap.\u00a0 Chill for 30 minutes.
\nFor the filling:\u00a0 Mix the goat cheese, cream, egg, sugar, flour, salt and basil in a bowl.\u00a0 Add the blueberries and stir by hand till combined.
\nFor the topping: Melt butter in a pan with a large surface.\u00a0 Add the toasted almonds, sugar and butter.\u00a0 Stir till almonds are fully coated with the sugar.\u00a0 Set aside.<\/p>\n

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.\u00a0 Roll out the chilled dough to fit the bottom of a 10-in pie pan, leaving an overhang in order to crimp edges.\u00a0 Pour the filling into the crust and sprinkle the topping over the top.\u00a0 Bake 25 minutes, rotating pie halfway through.\u00a0 When cool, sprinkle zested lemon on top of the pie.<\/p>\n

Cathy Branciaroli also writes about her adventures in the kitchen on her award-winning blog <\/em>Delaware Girl Eats<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Cathy Branciaroli, Food Correspondent, The Times \u201cEverybody in the car!\u201d\u00a0 On scorching hot July Ohio mornings, my mother, siblings and I headed out in our trusty station wagon to an abandoned blueberry farm near town where we filled turkey roasters with scads of perfectly ripe dusky-colored blueberries for canning, baking and just plain eating.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[10724,138,6269,3733,10726,10725,4128],"class_list":["post-26290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-blueberries","tag-chester-county","tag-featured","tag-food","tag-national-blueberry-month","tag-pie","tag-recipes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26290"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26291,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26290\/revisions\/26291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}