Simple and Delicious Recipe for Blueberry Pie

Blueberry pie with its sweet berry filling and rich shortcrust pastry is a glorious dessert for summer and autumn evenings. Served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or crème fraiche on the side, it is a feast to the eyes as well as to taste. Blueberries are now easily available in the UK and are grown in the South of England, so we can adopt this once all-American pie as our own. It can also be made with blackberries harvested from the hedgerows, to make it a true home-grown dish, in which case you will need to add more sugar than the recipe suggests.

Blueberry Pie recipe

Ingredients
250g / 8oz plain flour
125g / 4 oz butter
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons crème fraiche or yoghurt
600g / 10oz blueberries
120g / 4 oz caster sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon arrowroot or cornflour

To make the rich shortcrust pastry: Put the flour into a bowl and dice the butter into it, then put in the freezer to chill for 10 minutes. Beat the egg yolks with a pinch of salt and the crème fraiche or yoghurt and put into the fridge. Have some iced water ready in case you need it. Put the flour and butter in the processor and blitz for a minute until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add the egg mix and process again. Add a little iced water a teaspoon at a time until the dough starts to clump together, then switch off and form it into two balls, one slightly larger than the other. Wrap them in clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Prepare the filling: Put the blueberries into a pan with the sugar and water. Simmer for 2 minutes. Dilute the arrowroot with a little water and add to the blueberries. Simmer for another 2 minutes stirring occasionally. Leave to cool.

Preheat the oven to 220C / 450F.

Roll out the larger ball of pastry on a floured surface to fit a 18-20 cm pie dish. Lift it in. Spoon the blueberries on top, leaving behind most of the juice. Roll out the pastry lid. Dampen the sides of the base, then lift the lid on top and seal by pressing your thumb down all round leaving a fluted edge. Trim the edges if necessary and use the pastry trimmings to decorate. Brush the top with beaten egg white or milk. Pierce the top a few times to allow the steam to escape.

Bake for 10 minutes, on the lower shelf of the oven or over a heated baking sheet, then reduce the heat to 190C / 375F and bake for another 20-25 minutes until the pastry is golden. Rest for 15 minutes before serving a slice of delicious blueberry pie.

Love pies but not making pastry? Try the delicious desserts at Cockliffe House restaurant in Nottingham.