Our temperatures here have been fluctuating. We had beautiful sunny days, up in the 60's. We had some very cold nights. Now, we're under yet another atmospheric river and we're getting dumped on with rain. Last night, there were some wicked wind gusts. I'm glad I didn't insist that my 12-foot long portable (probably flimsy) plastic greenhouse be set up. It wouldn't have made it through.
We finished up watching 1883 on Paramount+ this morning. I won't post any spoilers but I will say that the show was one of the best shows I've ever seen. I can't wait for more!
I need to get my tomato, pepper and eggplant seeds going here in the next week or so. We planted a small asparagus bed, with 6 crowns for now. I do have asparagus seeds, so I'll be adding to it. We also planted 10 red raspberry bushes, 2 gold raspberries and 2 blue blueberry bushes. I'm going to be taking cuttings from my Pink Lemonade blueberries and I'm trading those for quite a few things to expand my berry garden: mulberries, 3 colors of currants: red, white and black, purple raspberries, black raspberries, (just need white to have all the colors), 2 types of figs, gooseberries and Concord grapes. I didn't realize how much these pink blueberries are sought after! Who knew??!! So, I'll be using my greenhouse for berry/fruit cuttings to get established as well as other things.
I put up another 5 pound batch of sauerkraut and will post a blog about that in a few weeks after it gets sufficiently sour for us.
Today, however, I'd like to talk about a recipe that I created this morning after looking at a Lemon Sour Cream Pie recipe. I have lemons, for sure, but I also bought some really nice looking blueberries (speaking of which, in the next few years, I plan on NOT buying blueberries again from anywhere). I wasn't exactly sure what we were going to do with the blueberries, but a quart was only $3.50, so it was one of those deals that was just too good to pass up but it was an impulse purchase. I know that Bob was talking about wanting a slice of pie the other night, so this sounded like the ticket. Anyhow, looking at sour cream lemon pies turned to perusing single crust blueberry pie recipes and this recipe is a result of that.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
It starts out as you would think with a bit of flour, a pinch of salt, some sugar and an egg.
I also used a cup of sour cream. This recipe is very helpful when you have a container of sour cream that is nearing the expiration date and you can only eat just so many baked potatoes.
I only use the best vanilla extract. By "the best" I mean vanilla extract that I made myself, using a fifth of locally made craft vodka with around 20 to 25 vanilla beans soaking in that sucker. There's no better vanilla extract on the planet, as far as I'm concerned.
Everything is whisked together until nice and smooth.
I like that this only uses a single crust. I had some pre-made crusts hanging out in the freezer and taking up space that could be used by more important things. I'll use the other crust to make a Buttermilk pie. When I do that, I'll post about it.
The blueberries get gently mixed into the sour cream mixture. Make sure to fully coat them all.
Then pour it all into a the pie shell. It's not going to look like it's enough filling. It's supposed to look that way. You'll understand later on. I promise. Spread the blueberries out evenly throughout the crust. Pop this in the oven and set a timer for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, make the topping for the pie. This is the standard flour, sugar, butter streusel mixture that we're all familiar with. It's pretty straight forward.
This is what you're pie will look like when you pull it out 30 minutes later. See? I told you that there was plenty of filling in there.
Sprinkle the streusel mixture evenly over the top of the pie and put it back into the oven for 15 or so minutes. I have a little RV propane oven, so mine took an additional 25 minutes. Just check after 15 minutes to see how it's starting to brown up.
I don't let my streusel topping brown up too much because Bob wouldn't be able to eat it. It makes a stunning looking pie.
No matter how you look at it, it looks scrumptious!
Blueberry Sour Cream Pie
1 pie shell for a deep dish pie, either pre-made or make your own
Filling:
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup sour cream
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 quart fresh blueberries, rinsed and well drained
Streusel Topping:
3 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1-1/2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix all the filling ingredients, except blueberries, in a large mixing bowl, with a whisk, until completely smooth and all ingredients are well incorporated. Gently fold in blueberries, coating them all, taking care to not smash any.
Bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, make the streusel topping by cutting the cold butter into the flour and sugar until all the dry ingredients have been combined. I use a fork for this. Set aside.
After 30 minutes, remove pie from oven, sprinkle streusel mixture evenly over the top of the pie. Put back into the oven between 15-25 minutes or until the struesel has browned up to your liking.
Remove from oven. Let cool thoroughly before slicing. Refrigerate leftovers.
Enjoy!
