Deep Dish Blueberry Pie

Above all desserts, blueberry pie stands alone. And I have a few ideas why this pie is affixed with such high honors in my mind. It might be the memories of picking blueberries on Boxing Day in Australia, where we would join our friends to list the previous day’s bounty of presents as we dislodged showers of berries from the bushes. It might be watching my mother riffle through the small wooden recipe chest to pick out the creased recipe for the oil pie crust. It might be Violet Beauregarde's final triumphant chew of blueberry pie gum, before she begins to exhibit the blueberry's qualities herself. It might be testing bites of uncooked pie filling and savoring the gritty granules of sugar that coated the blueberries. It might be reading Weekend at Muskrat Lake, the story of two sisters who forage for berries, only one of whom will return with enough in her bucket for a batch of muffins.

Likely, it is a combination of these memories and blueberry references that causes blueberry pie to edge out all other pastries and desserts. But I reckon the taste stands on its own. Warm filling that oozes soft purple. A crisp, salty crust, whose confines the berries always escape. Sprightly lemon to cut through the sugar and the berries’ natural sweetness. A soupy syrup that widens into a pool on the plate, ready to mingle with melting vanilla ice cream.

Of course, pie is always a trial—at least for me. A finicky crust often causes kitchen tantrums. On occasion I'll need some quiet time, after battling with a crumbly crust that won't roll out. Sometimes I win, sometimes the crust does. But it always tastes delicious, and the generous scoopfuls of berries aptly hide any cracks and patches. This rings particularly true for this deep dish blueberry pie, where the crust keeps to the bottom, cradling an overlarge amount of berries. Omitting the top crust saves time and exposes the colorful berries to the pie-eaters. Cut with a cake knife, use a spoon to gather runaway berries, and dig in.

Adapted from Simply Recipe's Blueberry Pie recipe

Deep Dish Blueberry Pie
Ingredients:
Your favorite recipe for a single pie crust*
6 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:
--Roll out dough between two pieces of parchment into one large oval. Strip off top parchment and place a 2-quart, glass casserole dish (or a deep dish pie tin if you have one) upside down on top of the crust. Flip over so that the dish is right side up, covered with the crust. Peel back the parchment and pat the crust onto the bottom and sides of the pan.
--Preheat oven to  425 degrees F. Coat the blueberries with the lemon zest and juice. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine. Scoop into crust.
--Bake for 20 minutes at 425 degrees. Reduce oven to 350 degrees and cook for 30 minutes more, or until berry juices are bubbling and crust is golden brown. If crust seems to be getting too dark, cover edges with foil for remaining time. Let cool at least 1 hour before cutting and eating.

*My preferred crust is an oil crust. Combine 1 1/2 cups of flour with 1 1/2 tsp. salt. Chill 6 TBSP water in the freezer for 10 minutes. When water is very cold, remove from freezer and add to flour mixture along with 1/4 cup oil. Mix just until combined. Roll into one large oval between two sheets of parchment.