Day 172 Happy Birthday to Me!!!

There comes a time in everyone’s life when they must stop trying to hold time still and just face the facts.  Yikes!!!  I have recently entered the 3rd decade of my life and I was lucky enough to do it in style…well, at least I was well feed.  I am a very luck girl, with a very amazing husband and when he asked me what I wanted him to cook for my birthday dinner, I decided on Turkish Meze (Mezethe in Greece) and a fresh-picked Blackberry Pie.

Yeah, looking back it was a bit demanding, but I did help him cook.  We spent all day Sunday in the kitchen.   Bahbaghanoush, tzatziki (cacik), beyaz peynir ezmesi (spicy feta), nuska boregi (stuffed pastries), zucchini fritters (not sure what they are called in Turkish), and pita bread!  So yummy!!!

If you would like to have a go at making this delicious pie, I have put our recipe below.  Blackberries are a September fruit and really should be used in September, but if you can find them still, this is an amazing treat that is sure to put a smile on your face.

Fresh Blackberry Pie

Crust (makes the top and the bottom):

1/2 cups flour                         8oz butter (Cut into cubes and frozen)

1 teaspoon of salt                   1 tablespoon of sugar

6-8 tablespoons of ice water

Mix flour, salt and sugar in a bowl.  Cut in butter. Add 4 tablespoons of water and mix, slowly added more water if needed.  Dough should not be sticky and try not to mix the dough too much.  Butter MUST stay unmelted and mixed throughout the crust, this is what makes is so yummy.  Split the dough in half and form into 1″ thick discs and put in the fridge.

Filling:

5-6 cups of fresh black berries

3/4 cup sugar (this will vary depending on how sweet your berries are and how sweet you like your pie)

1 teaspoon lemon juice                     1 teaspoon lemon zest

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon                    1/4 teaspoon Almond extract

1/3 cup flour                                     1/2 -1 teaspoon fresh thyme

Mix all of the filling ingredients in a bowl and set aside so that the flavors have time to meld.  Beware you will be tempted to taste it now, go ahead, but I promise this pie is worth the wait!

Now preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Roll out crust, quickly because you don’t want the butter to melt before it gets into the oven. Shape the crust bottom in a pie pan, add the filling, and form the top, crimping around the edges to seal. Bake at 400 F for 30 min then another 30 min at 350 F. Cover with foil if the top looks like it is getting too dark, it should be a golden brown. Let cool at least 30 min before serving. Then enjoy with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Until next time,

Jenna x

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15 Oct This entry was published on October 15, 2011 at 8:14 am. It’s filed under 365 Days and tagged 30, 365, birthday, blackberry, days, food, Greek, Mezethe, Oxford, photography, pie, summer, Turkish Meze, uk, vignette, year. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.