BLUEBERRY NECTARINE PIE

I don’t eat pie right. I poke off the top and ignore the bottom and dig right into the fruit. I grew up with fruit as my only sweet indulgence and I am a bona fide fruit addict, so when faced with a fruit pie, all I really want is the luscious insides. In this pie, I combine my favorite stone fruit—nectarines—with my favorite berry—blueberry—into a juicy, stainyour- mouth, burst-with-flavor dessert. I use a trick from my first book to pack as many berries as possible into the pie: I cook down half of the berries so they let out their juice and use that to help bind the rest of the berries and the nectarines together. As with pretty much all fruit pastries, your dessert will only be as good as the ripeness and sweetness of the fruit you use to make it. So be sure to seek out perfume-y, fragrant nectarines and the plumpest, sweetest blueberries to make this mouthwatering pie.

 

Ingredients :

 

• • Double-Crust Pie Dough
• • 680 g/4 cups fresh blueberries
• • 50 g/4 Tbsp sugar
• • 35 g/¼ cup all-purpose flour
• • ¹⁄8 tsp kosher salt
• • ½ tsp almond extract
• • 1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• • 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
• • 4 ripe nectarines, unpeeled, pitted, and cut into ½-in [1-cm] slices
• • 1 egg yolk

 

Method :

 

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F [175°C].
2. Remove the pastry dough from the refrigerator and knead it slightly to make it malleable if it feels stiff. Using a rolling pin, press about two-thirds of the dough to flatten it into a disk about 1⁄2 in [1 cm] thick. (Reserve the other one-third for the top.) Generously flour your work surface and the dough disk. Carefully roll out the disk into a circle about 12 in [30 cm] in diameter. Make sure the table you are rolling on is well floured so that the dough does not stick to it; likewise, make sure the disk itself is floured well enough to keep your rolling pin from sticking to it. Roll from the center of the disk outward and gently rotate the disk a quarter turn after each roll to ensure that the disk gets stretched out evenly into a nice circle. Don’t worry if the dough breaks a bit, especially towards the edges. You can easily patch these tears once you’ve lined your pie plate.
3. Once the dough circle is about 12 in [30 cm] in diameter, roll it gently around the rolling pin and then unfurl it on top of a 9-in [13-cm] aluminum or glass pie plate. Press the dough gently into the bottom and sides of the plate, leaving a 1⁄2-in [1-cm] lip around the edge (to allow for shrinkage in the oven), and using any scraps or odd pieces to patch up any tears or missing bits.
4. Refrigerate the pie shell for at least 30 minutes. (The gluten needs a little time to relax so it doesn’t shrink as much in the oven). The unbaked pie shell can be stored, tightly wrapped in plastic wrap, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 4 weeks. If frozen, the pie shell can be baked directly from the freezer.
5. Blind bake (that is, prebake) the shell so it doesn’t get soggy when you eventually fill it with fruit: Line the shell with parchment paper or a large coffee filter and then fill it with pie weights, uncooked beans, uncooked rice, or even well washed marble-size rocks. Press down slightly on the weights to make sure the shell is entirely filled and place in the oven. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the shell is brown on the edges and pale and matte when you lift the parchment and peek at the surface of the shell. (If the edges brown too quickly, cover the shell loosely with foil.) When the pie shell is done blind baking, remove it from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.
6. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine about one-fourth of the blueberries with 3 Tbsp of the sugar, the flour, salt, almond extract, lemon juice, and 1 Tbsp of the butter. Cook over medium-low heat, mashing the berries and stirring occasionally, for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the berries, sugar, and flour melt into a gooey mass. Some of the berries will cook into a jam and some will remain somewhat whole. Remove the pan from the heat. Place the remaining blueberries and the nectarines in a large bowl and add the blueberry mixture to it. Stir to combine.
7. Remove the parchment paper and pie weights from the baked shell and pile the fruit into the shell. Dot the fruit all over with the remaining 1 Tbsp butter.
8. On a well-floured surface, roll out the remaining dough into a circle about 10 in [25 cm] in diameter and drape it over the pie with the edge of the circle overhanging the edge 1⁄2 in [1 cm] all the way around (you will trim off this excess once the pie is baked). In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolk and brush it evenly over the top crust. Sprinkle the top crust evenly with the remaining 1 Tbsp sugar. Cut four to six slits in the center of the dough to allow steam to escape.
9. Set the pie on a baking sheet to catch any bubbling overflowing fruit juices, and place in the oven. Bake for 11⁄4 to 11⁄2 hours, or until the top crust is entirely golden brown. If the top of the pie starts to brown too quickly, cover it with aluminum foil during the last 20 minutes of baking to allow the bottom to finish baking without over-baking the top. Remove the pie from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for 3 to 4 hours before serving.
10. Before serving, use a sharp paring knife to carefully trim the edge of the pie, cutting off the excess overhanging dough and leaving a simple, straight edge on the finished crust. The longer you let the pie sit, the more “together” the fruit will be. If you cut into it while warm, the fruit will be especially juicy and the filling, especially runny. The pie can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.