This is my definitive blueberry pie recipe. It combines all the tricks in the book: adding cornflour, smushing up part of the blueberries and using star shapes (you could criss cross pastry stripes if you don’t own a star cookie cutter) instead of a heavier top crust to deliver a champion fruit pie.

My problem with blueberries is I find them a tad insipid – the “plain Janes” of the berry world. I know I go against the tide of “blueberryism” sweeping the globe, but I find their tarter cousins blackberries and blackcurrants far more complex and alluring . Berry heresy indeed.

Their very juiciness that makes them so mouth poppingly good in raw desserts is part of the problem when cooking them.

So here is a pie that peps up the flavor with lemon, makes the pie more berry and less pastry and guards against a soggy bottom base!

Gadgets & Gizmos

For this kind of pie, a pie tin with a removable base is desirable. You can make it in a pie dish but its not as pretty. A pastry brush does help.

Ingredients

• 500g blueberries
• 25g sugar (optional)
• 1 tsp cornflour (“Amidon”)
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1 egg lightly beaten
• 1 quantity ofVery Buttery Pastry 

How To

Making the pastry base and baking it blind does involve more time (approx two hours if you include relaxing time) but fit in other things to do around it rather than hanging around for your pastry case to bake. Or make the day before and freeze it or store in an airtight container somewhere cool and dry.

Pastry Case

Roll the pastry out in a circle to 3mm thick (just more than a coin) and using the rolling pin to lift the pastry, place the circle of pastry over the tin. Gently ease it into the case and press it in. Cold hands and a gentle touch are key here. Use a knife or the rolling pin to trim off the edges hanging over. Squish up the scraps and make into another ball of pastry. Re-roll and cut out stars or strips. Cover with plastic film to use when you fill the pie. (Note: if you refrigerate them they will become solid and a bit difficult to work with. Just leave them somewhere cool)

Scrunch up a piece of baking paper (“hartie de copt”) and un-scrunch it, so it is softer and more easily fits the shape of your tin. Line the pastry case with the paper. Fill the case with your “baking beans” of choice. Bake at 180C for 15 minutes. Remove the baking beans and paint the base with the egg wash. This is the all important waterproofing layer. Bake at 180C for 10 minutes.

Filling the Pie

Blend 200g of berries with the lemon zest and corn flour to a puree. Stir in 300g of berries. The corn flour will help thicken the filling as will blending part of the berries.

Fill the pre-baked pastry case with the filling. Arrange your stars or stripes over the filling, brush them with the egg wash so they become nice and golden when baked and bake again at 160C for 20-25 minutes until reaching a pleasant golden color.

Serve slightly warm with the traditional ice cream accompaniment. I like honey and lavender ice cream as an alternative to vanilla but I have also served with a lime and mint sorbet as a racier alternative.