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eve11Nothing like an improptu morning migraine to derail one's plans for writing. It wasn't as bad as the last one, but I'm still sitting here with an ice pack perched on the top of my head. I suppose I should get the heck off lj and go work on my article before the headache decides it's not done for the day.
*grumps*
I think these are being triggered by food of some kind. Not sure what, though. Last time it was tea, this time it might have been a not-quite-ripe blackberry that I sampled this morning. So yes, before said headache knocked me for a loop, I picked more blackberries this morning. 2 cups worth. need about 2 cups more for a pie. They are even riper than the ones we picked last week-- I made a pie from them on Wednesday night and we took it to D's aunt's yesterday evening for dessert and everyone really liked it.
Amalgamated from a few recipes on allrecipes.com and some tips on pie crusts
4 cups blackberries
1.25 to 1.5 cups sugar (possibly more: this depends on the sweetness of your berries, taste tests are good here)
4 tbsp corn starch
2 tbsp blackberry brandy
juice from 1/2 of a lemon
2 pre-made roll-out pie crusts
A small bit of corn syrup (optional)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees (F).
Roll out a pie shell into a glass pie dish and pour 2 cups of blackberries into the shell, arranging them evenly.
Take the remaining 2 cups of blackberries and puree them in a blender (incidentally, this is a rather visually disturbing step, the way they splatter all over the place inside the blender looks remarkably like a slasher film, and I will remember this if we ever make a movie wherein we need gory special effects). Strain the puree through cheesecloth to get rid of the seeds and the roughage from the berries (I didn't do this step last time b/c I didn't have cheesecloth, and it still came out okay, we'll see how the consistency does when we use the cheesecloth).
Take the strained berry puree and add to a saucepan on low heat, then whisk in the sugar and the lemon juice. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, whisking and stirring constantly. Boil for 5 minutes, then remove from the heat. In a small bowl or cup, mix the brandy and the cornstarch until it makes a smooth consistent paste-- this is actually easier to do without lumps than it is with water, for some reason. I was surprised.
Put the berry mixture back onto the heat and whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Bring the mixture back up to a boil and boil until it thickens a bit (about 2-3 minutes), again whisking constantly. Pour the mixture evenly over the blackberries in the pie shell.
Put the second crust on top, cutting a few holes for liquid to escape or using sliced dough in crosshatches. Sprinkle the top with sugar and bake for 35-45 minutes, until the top crust is golden and flaky.
Remove the pie from the oven. Take the bit of corn syrup and thin it with hot water, then brush it over the top crust. Put back in the oven for 3-4 minutes to get a nice shiny top crust on the pie.
Remove pie and let it cool down and rest for a while. It's good served warm with vanilla ice cream or cool whip. Also, I used the crosshatch pie crust, and this was the first time I made a fruit pie that didn't run all over the place when it was cut, which was nice (D, on the other hand, says he likes fruit pies runny. Weirdo).
*grumps*
I think these are being triggered by food of some kind. Not sure what, though. Last time it was tea, this time it might have been a not-quite-ripe blackberry that I sampled this morning. So yes, before said headache knocked me for a loop, I picked more blackberries this morning. 2 cups worth. need about 2 cups more for a pie. They are even riper than the ones we picked last week-- I made a pie from them on Wednesday night and we took it to D's aunt's yesterday evening for dessert and everyone really liked it.
Amalgamated from a few recipes on allrecipes.com and some tips on pie crusts
4 cups blackberries
1.25 to 1.5 cups sugar (possibly more: this depends on the sweetness of your berries, taste tests are good here)
4 tbsp corn starch
2 tbsp blackberry brandy
juice from 1/2 of a lemon
2 pre-made roll-out pie crusts
A small bit of corn syrup (optional)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees (F).
Roll out a pie shell into a glass pie dish and pour 2 cups of blackberries into the shell, arranging them evenly.
Take the remaining 2 cups of blackberries and puree them in a blender (incidentally, this is a rather visually disturbing step, the way they splatter all over the place inside the blender looks remarkably like a slasher film, and I will remember this if we ever make a movie wherein we need gory special effects). Strain the puree through cheesecloth to get rid of the seeds and the roughage from the berries (I didn't do this step last time b/c I didn't have cheesecloth, and it still came out okay, we'll see how the consistency does when we use the cheesecloth).
Take the strained berry puree and add to a saucepan on low heat, then whisk in the sugar and the lemon juice. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, whisking and stirring constantly. Boil for 5 minutes, then remove from the heat. In a small bowl or cup, mix the brandy and the cornstarch until it makes a smooth consistent paste-- this is actually easier to do without lumps than it is with water, for some reason. I was surprised.
Put the berry mixture back onto the heat and whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Bring the mixture back up to a boil and boil until it thickens a bit (about 2-3 minutes), again whisking constantly. Pour the mixture evenly over the blackberries in the pie shell.
Put the second crust on top, cutting a few holes for liquid to escape or using sliced dough in crosshatches. Sprinkle the top with sugar and bake for 35-45 minutes, until the top crust is golden and flaky.
Remove the pie from the oven. Take the bit of corn syrup and thin it with hot water, then brush it over the top crust. Put back in the oven for 3-4 minutes to get a nice shiny top crust on the pie.
Remove pie and let it cool down and rest for a while. It's good served warm with vanilla ice cream or cool whip. Also, I used the crosshatch pie crust, and this was the first time I made a fruit pie that didn't run all over the place when it was cut, which was nice (D, on the other hand, says he likes fruit pies runny. Weirdo).
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Date: 2007-07-28 04:20 pm (UTC)saw something that looked like a skull headed scarren in armor [but short][yesterday at comicon] and immediately thought of you... I know you'll have fun at dragon*con... when I win the lottery, I'm going to drag my friends on a magical mystery tour of cons... :D how much fun would THAT be... ;)
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Date: 2007-07-28 04:30 pm (UTC)