Blueberry Perfection!

A Maine Blueberry..... better yet..... Maine Blueberry Pie!

While visiting Kennebunkport last week, we headed straight to our favorite seaside restaurant for our luncheon before an afternoon of shopping and sightseeing. I found it amazing that we had not yet tried the blueberry pie after eating at this little gem for a few years. My, we certainly discovered that we were indeed missing something! We ordered just one piece of the pie along with four forks. All I can tell you is, the plate was clean of any crumbs. Therefore, The Maine House vows to match their delicacy!

Estelle's Perfect Pie Crust
9 tablespoons very cold, unsalted butter
5 tablespoons very cold vegetable shortening (Estelle's prefers Crisco)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/3 cup very cold water


Dice the butter. Once diced, place it in the freezer. Place the water and shortening in the freezer.
 Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse a few times to mix the ingredients. Add the butter and shortening. Pulse 8 to 12 times, or until the butter is the size of peas. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball.
 Dump the dough onto a lightly floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap the ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
 Cut the dough in half. On a well-floured board, roll each piece into a circle, rolling from the center to the edge. Turn and flour the dough, as necessary, to ensure it doesn’t stick to the board. Fold the dough in half, place in a pie pan, and unfold to fit the pan. Repeat with the top crust once ready!

Blueberry Pie Filling
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
juice and grated zest from 1/2 medium lemon
5 cups fresh or frozen thawed blueberries, rinsed well

In a large bowl combine sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, lemon juice and grated rind, and blueberries. Roll out half of the pastry; line an 9-inch pie pan and trim edges. Pour berry mixture into pie crust and dot with small pieces of butter. Roll out remaining pastry to about 1/8 inch thick. Cover pie; trim, turn edge under and crimp. Cut a few vents in top of crust to allow steam to escape. Bake at 425° for 40 minutes, or until crust is nicely browned.

"Any Southener worth his piecrust knows that White Lily is the only flour worth stocking in the larder."