My brother always likes to joke, "What's pie?" So when he gave sufficient warning that he was contemplating riding up for a visit a few weeks ago, I decided it was high time it was pie time. 

Blueberry pie

From King Arthur Baker's Companion. It’s a variation on their bumbleberrypie, which uses a mix of blueberries, blackberries and raspberries.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon
6 cups blueberries
1 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling on  top
¼ cup cornstarch (or quick cooking tapioca)
¼ teaspoon allspice
1 9-inch double  piecrust (see recipe below or use your favorite)

Method

Combine juices, zest, blueberries, sugar, cornstarch and allspice in a large pan and simmer until thickened. Cool to lukewarm.

Preheat oven to 425.

Roll out one pie crust into a 13-inch circle and set into a 9-inch pie pan. Spoon the filling into the shell. Roll out the other pie crust and place on top, crimping edges. Sprinkle with sugar.

Bake pie for 15 minutes at 425. Reduce heat to 350 and bake for an additional 35 to 50 minutes, until the top is evenly brown. Allow to cool several hours before slicing.

Rating: Really nice the second day. It was probably a few hours too warm for the best slicing the first day for lunch and would have been better baked either the day before or a few hours earlier than I had any interest in getting up, but set up nicely once fully cooled. Packed with blueberry flavor and a respectably crackly crust. Beats the heck out of canned filling. If you want filling to have on hand, try out Cathy Barrow's blueberry pie filling you can put up.

Julia Child’s Flaky Pie Dough

From “Baking with Julia.” This recipe is cut in half from her recipe; this yields two crusts for making one 9-inch pie with a top and bottom crust. I went this route because I know myself and the chances of me using the other two before they went off in the freezer seemed unlikely. But otherwise it would be a good time saver to make the double batch. And it makes for easier-to-measure amounts than the 2-crust version.

Ingredients

2⅝ cups pastry or all purpose flour
½ tablespoon kosher salt
3 ounces butter (6 tablespoons) cold butter, cut into small pieces (she specifies unsalted, but I didn't have any on hand and regular seemed fine)
5½ ounces (⅞ cup) chilled solid vegetable shortening (I used butter flavor Crisco)
½ cup ice water

Method

(Note: Julia gives three methods, one for a food processor, one for a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and by hand. I opted for by hand since it saves messing up an appliance and it makes it less likely that I’d overwork the dough.)

Mix flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the chopped butter and cut in using a pastry blender or two table knives. Mix until coarse and crumbly. Add shortening in small bits and work in until it’s in small clumps. Stir in ice water with a wooden spoon to blend it in. Turn out onto a board and fold it over just a few times. It will be a soft dough until chilled. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill. The recipe calls for at least 2 hours, but in my refrigerator I’ve found overnight yields a happier outcome. Once when making this the morning of for use in a quiche that evening for guests, there was some panic time in the freezer to get it to the right consistency to work with. (It can be stored for up to 5 days in the refrigerator or frozen for a month. Defrost first  if using frozen pie dough.) Divide in half and roll out as directed in the recipe.

Rating: A really good, reliable crust providing you've got the chilling time. Good for both sweet and savory pies.

All-butter crust purist? Lard fan? Swear the store-bought ones are just fine in a pinch? I won't say you're wrong. I spelled out my open-minded approach to pie crusts here.