Plum and Blueberry Pie

I normally try to post at least once a week, but sometimes life gets in the way. I realized (with a nearly audible gasp) only this week that it was nearly THREE weeks since my last post.

Here's my laundry list of excuses. First of all, I think I was lazy. Plain and simple. Then the in-laws (all of them) came to visit, and as much as they cooed over my blog, I didn't lift one finger to type out a blog post in their presence. I also barely lifted a finger to cook for them aside from a fruit crisp.

And today, I am sick. My throat is sore, my face feels warm, and I have a headache. As such, I am not consuming sugar today except for what comes naturally in the fruit I've been eating (just look up "sugar and immune system" and you'll see why I avoid it when I'm sick). So what better thing to do when I am not sick enough to be lying down than to write a blog post about something that has so much sugar in it I should have a weak immune system for at least a week after consuming it?

Several weeks ago our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group supplied us with A LOT of plums. I mean A LOT - and especially so since we purchased two fruit shares this year.

Believe it or not this picture doesn't even show all of the plums we had on hand that day.

So anyway, we were racking our brains on how to creatively use these things and finally one weekend I decided to make a rustic pie (pretty much a crostata). I'm not that good at making pies, but I thought that I could probably create something like this. I was nearly right.

Plum and Blueberry Pie
This recipe is based upon the Nectarine Plum and Blueberry Crostata recipe found on FoodNetwork.com.

Pie Crust:

• 1 cup flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons vegan butter, cold
• 2 tablespoons cold water

Pie Filling:

• 1/4 cup flour
• 5 cups plums, peeled, seeded and sliced
• 1 pint blueberries
• 1 cup sugar

Mix flour, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl.

Work butter into flour mixture with hands or a pastry blender until it resembles coarse meal.

Add enough cold water to bring dough together into a ball, handling dough as little as possible (if you add too much water, just add more flour until the dough does not feel too wet). Wrap dough ball in plastic wrap. Chill at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Now here's where you are supposed to roll the dough out into a 14-inch diameter circle. See the rolling pin? I tried.

Didn't work. So what I did instead was press the dough with my hands onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (you will be glad of parchment paper if you make this, so I suggest you use it - you'll see why later on).

Sprinkle center of dough with 1/4 cup of flour.

De-stone the plums, and preferably skin them as well (another step I skipped), and put the plums and blueberries into a large bowl.

Mix the sugar and fruit.

Make sure to use a slotted spoon when you transfer the fruit to the pie crust as it will have become a very soupy mixture (maybe reduce the sugar?).

Spread mixture in center of dough to within 3 inches (more or less) of edge.

Fold dough border over the mixture.

You will likely have some of the syrup drip out, but this is okay. Just look at it from a side that looks perfect, and you won't notice a thing.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the dough is golden brown and fruit is tender.

This turned out very well. The pie crust, even though I struggled with it, was delicious. The filling was fantastic aside from the fact that the plums were very tart. It was really quite good.

Some observations...

See the syrup, now purple, that escaped out of the pie? This is why parchment paper rocks. Some syrup still wound up underneath the parchment paper, but not so much that it was overly difficult to clean.

Secondly, that syrup is basically like candy and can be almost as addictive as the pie.

Another observation, which I've already shared, is that I should have peeled those plums. This was amazingly tart, and if you like amazingly tart, then leave those skins on. If you're like me, peel the plums or use a different fruit (peaches, nectarines, apples, etc.).

Finally, I really do think that you can use less than one cup of sugar. I'd suggest trying 1/2 cup or even going as far as 1/4 cup. Since I used a slotted spoon much of the sugar was left in the bowl so it seems fruitless - hehe - to use a whole cup.

I'm definitely making this one again. In the meantime I've gotta get over this sore throat. :(