Blueberry Pie

This whole pie thing started because just as April and I were beginning to notice we liked each other the move Tombstone came out. Val Kilmer, playing Doc Holliday, had a line when he told Johnny Ringo, who was spoiling for a fight "I'm your Huckleberry." I have worn a long mustache and what they now call a "soul patch" for a long time. Sometimes when I'm in a mood to make a real visual statement I wax and curl it. It's a good look on me. I'm used to it. Also, since I shave with a straight razor it makes my lips a whole lot safer. It got so that anytime April would come up with an idea, or have something she wanted to do I'd say "I'm your huckleberry" and we'd both dissolve into laughter. Nobody else seemed to really get it. I hope we weren't making our friends ill at the sight of us.

Huckleberries and blueberries are both from the nightshade family, they have a very similar taste. So, even though I was using fresh blueberries for this recipe, when it was served to April, I said "And here's Your Huckleberry." We giggled like naughty teenagers. I'm sure it would have made any onlookers gag.

You can make your own pastry dough ahead of time or get the frozen stuff from the supermarket. Because there's a cinnamon crumb topping on this pie, a flakey top crust isn't that important. I went with the frozen sheet crust this time. I do handle it somewhat differently though. I take the thawed sheet from the refridgerator so that I'm working with a cold dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface (If you don't have a marble slab to work your pastries and chocolates on I feel sorry for you, but those silcone sheets from a Cook's catalog or chef's supply work well too) and roll it out evenly and thin. Fold the crust back on top of itself and roll it out again. Fold it into fourths and put into a 9" standard (meaning not a deep dish unit) pie pan. Trim off the excess dough and using a spiral twist shape a lip roll all the way around the top of the crust. Then using a salad fork push indentations in all the way around. Set this in a cool place.

Preheat the oven to 375°
3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
6 cups fresh blueberries

Mix the above ingredients in a large bowl. I usually toss it by hand because the idea here is to get the berries nice and evenly coated without busting them all to hell. Put this mixture into your prepared pie crust.

Cinnamon Crumb topping

2/3 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup rolled oats (old fashioned Quaker, Not instant)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons sweet butter, cut into small cubes and softened

In another bowl mix these all together by hand. You are looking for pea and slightly bigger sized crumbs. Sprinkly evenly over the pie filling surface, do not pack or poke it in. Be sure to have a good berm built up around the edge of the pie otherwise hot filling stuff will leak out all over the place (it turns into black concrete on the bottom of your stove, nasty business that)

Bake for 45 minutes. The top of the pie should be a nice golden brown. Do not overcook because if it gets to dark brown it will be too hard. Also the burnt sugar thing isn't good for this particular dish.

Cool completely on a rack. Serve at room temperature, topped with lots of fresh whipped cream.

Finish off any meal with this, or use it to end an evening out and you can be somebody's huckleberry too.