Mixed Berry Pie - Welcome Home Fishman

J was gone last week on one his fishing trips to Eastern Washington with the boys.  Since he is a catch and release kind of guy I decided I would bake him a pie to honor the fish he left behind .  While my fishies are happily swimming in a mix of berries and Buddha's Hand Vodka, his are still out in the lake. I used (and will always use, now that I've learned the recipe) Kate McDermott's recipe for the fabulous pie crust.

Pie Crust
You can find the recipe and directions here at Kate's blog.

Pie Filling
Mixed berries-enough to fill your pie pan up to the rim
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
Pinch of fresh nutmeg (or just grind a fresh one over the bowl until it looks like a pinch)
Shot of Buddha's Hand Vodka (about 1 1/2 oz. if you don't have Buddha's Hand use any lemon flavored vodka)
1/4 cup flour
2 Tablespoons quick cook Tapioca

Sprinkle the sugar over the berries and let set for about 1hour.  Drain off excess liquid (you can save this for a delicious berry syrup). Don't worry you are going to have plenty of Vodka tainted fruit juices in your pie filling.   Add the vodka,vanilla,nutmeg ,flour and Tapioca and gently mix it into the berries.

Assuming you've followed Kate's instructions for making the pie dough and rolling the crust, you can now place the pie crust into your pie pan and gently place the pie filling inside your uncooked crust. You can pop that into the refrigerator while you roll out your top crust.  I rolled out my top crust and used my fish cookie cutter to cut out my crust topper.  Before you add the top crust,dot your pie with little pieces of butter (use about 1 Tablespoon butter and squeeze off little pieces from that and toss them around the top of your fruit filling).

Brush your pie with an egg wash (lightly beaten egg with a little water) and sprinkle the pie with sugar.

Bake at 425F for 20 minutes then reduce oven to 350F and bake for an additional 30-40 minutes until your pie has that beautiful brown hue to it.

You don't have to kick into obsessive compulsive mode when baking pies, like Kate said,Chill. Really-everything I did was based on what I learned in class and not from reading a written recipe. Taste,taste,taste and don't be afraid to experiment.  Read Kate's blog for more recipes and tips and check out Gwen's blog at Living in Langley:Notes from an Island-she has some wonderful step by step instructions and photos to help guide you.

Top this wonderful berry pie with ice cream,yogurt or like I did, with  fresh whipped cream-don't add any sugar to the whipped cream-the pie is sweet enough !