There is definitely something very special about spending the day picking blueberries and then… stumbling on some mushrooms. I know you could probably purchase the berries, much bigger ones at that, at a grocery store, even get them at a good price. Yet, as little as they are, they pack enormous flavour when they are wild… and just picked!
So that’s how we spent the day, leaving the house about 7:30, driving out over an hour to the Canadian Shield, looking for rocks and pine trees, these are the home of berries that burst with flavour, that is if the bears hadn’t gotten to them yet.
And so we dodged mosquitoes that were hungry and fast, scouring the bushes for berries. Then as we wandered in the quite we also found mushrooms. We know a few of the varieties that are edible. My grandmother was the best mushroom hunter, she would pick ones that my mother and I wouldn’t dare pick. We like to be on the safe side. But she knew and was familiar with many more than we are, so we pick the ones we are certain are good and leave the rest behind.
The mushrooms are good just pan fried with some eggs or by themselves with a good steak, but I tend to like them best after their are sliced thin, sun dried and then can be added to soups. These you can’t get on the cheap at a grocery store. So even if the berries could be more easily gathered at a store, the mushrooms can’t…. and besides the wild berries are far better than their farmed cousins that can be bought.
And with the berries that were picked, I made a rhubarb, strawberry and blueberry pie. A truly yummily blueberry pie using my favourite crust recipe. It’s one that is so easy and flaky… it’s sick!
NO FAIL best Crust EVER!
- 250 grams cream cheese
- 250 grams unsalted butter
- 250 grams flour
Pour the flour on a working surface, make sure you put the butter and cream cheese on the counter for a little while first so that it’s soft enough to work with but not so soft that it’s melting. Cut the butter and cream cheese onto the pile of flour in chunks. Work the ingredients together with your hands until you have a nice pliable dough. You may need to add a little bit of flour to the surface when rolling out the dough.
This amount will make one top and one bottom of a 12 inch deep dish pie crust and one top layer. You may have a little left over like I did and can make a baby pie if you have a small pie plate.
This crust recipe is far from low calorie… but FAR better and easier than any recipe I have ever tried using lard or cold water.
Once you have the pie crust rolled out and in the pie plate, sprinkle some breadcrumbs on the bottom to soak up any excess liquid and keep the crust from getting soggy…. 😉
FILLING
I have to admit that for my filling I used about 8 stalks of rhubarb, 1 cup of strawberries and 1 1/2 cups of blueberries. I didn’t actually measure here but am guesstimating. I cooked the rhubarb in a little lemon juice and when it was soft I added sugar. Then I added the strawberries and blueberries and sprinkled about 2 heaping tablespoons of minute tapioca. Let the mixture cool before putting in the pie. Top the pie with crust and pinch the edges.
By cooking the filling first you avoid getting that hump of emptiness once the pie cooks and the fruit cooks down. Bake at about 350 degrees until golden brown…. until done… lol… those have always been my directions…. but I can tell you I baked it for about 50 minutes.
Voila… done… the best berry rhubarb pie ever! Of course made even more special with the wild blueberries.