Finnish Blueberry Pie

I returned from a holiday in Finland last week and all I can think of is a blueberry pie. It's been about five years since we were last in Finland but it felt like a year ago. That's what happens when you meet great friends again. It all comes back to you instantly, so many memories of all the great times we shared. Those are the best holidays. I came back relaxed and well rested.

I'm a big fan of simple and delicious recipes. Many Finnish recipes are just like that. All you need to make a perfect meal are a few fresh, seasonal ingredients. Blueberry season has only started when we arrived at out friend's summer cottage but the forest floor was already covered in a beautiful blue carpet. It's hard to get wild forrest blueberries when you live in London so I usually go a bit nuts when I can pick these sweet blue jewels. Wild blueberries are the real deal unlike the commercially grown ones. They taste so much better!
I usually prefer all fruit raw, but when life gives you liters of blueberries you have to make a pie. I obviously had to ask my friend to share her recipe. It's the simplest and most delicious blueberry pie I've ever had.




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Finnish Blueberry Pie
Serves about 8

Ingredients

For the dough
100g unsalted butter, melted
1 eggs
75g sugar
180g plain flour
1tsp baking powder

For the filling
1 egg
200ml soured cream
75g sugar
blueberries


Method
Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Grease a 20-23cm/8-9inch pie tin or pan. In a medium bowl, mix together sugar and egg, add the melted butter and stir well until combined. In another bowl, mix flour and baking powder and add it to the butter mixture. Stir together to form a soft dough. Pat the dough evenly over the bottom and sides of the pan. Add a lot of blueberries on top to fill the pan.
In a mixing bowl, combine sour cream, egg and sugar and pour over the blueberries. Bake for about 30 minutes. Let the pie cool down before slicing.

Gooseberry Galette

I wish summer could last forever or at least 6 months. There are so many reasons to love this season but fresh produce is one the most important ones; strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, gooseberries, red currants, cherries, green peas, tomatoes, radishes to name just a few of my favourites. This summer is especially amazing because I can enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables everyday. Morning yogurt with granola and freshly picked berries, lunch salads made from crunchy lettuce and greens, handfuls of fresh picked berries going straight in my mouth, snacking on radishes that were just washed off the dirt, that's my everyday reality and I can't even imagine it's going to end in a few weeks. I've been also baking a lot. Gooseberry galette was my latest experiment and I'm definitely going to make it again. My gooseberries were more on the sweet side, so I was surprised that they turned out to be quite tart and acidic after baking. However, I really like the contrast of sweetness of the crust and acidity of the gooseberries in this galette. It's a perfect hot summer day dessert.








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Gooseberry Galette

Serves about 8

Ingredients

125g plain flour

125g spelt flour
2 tbsp golden cane sugar
1/4 tsp salt
115 g cold unsalted butter, diced
3 tbsp cold milk
500g fresh gooseberries, topped and tailed
35g golden cane sugar
1 egg for egg wash

Method
Combine flours, sugar and salt in a medium bowl, then add diced butter and using your hands rub the butter in to the flour until you have pea sized crumbles. Add the cold milk and blend everything together with a fork. Do not knead the dough, just gather the clumps into a ball.
Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and flatten it a bit. Refrigerate for at least an hour. (I left the dough in the refrigerator for two days, because I didn't have time to bake the galette the same day.)

Preheat oven to 180℃. Unwrap the dough and press the edges so that there are no cracks. Dust a sheet of parchment paper with flour and roll out the dough into a 25cm circle about 0.3 - 0.5cm thick. Transfer the dough on the parchment paper to a baking sheet. Sprinkle over the gooseberries, leaving a 5cm border. Sprinkle with most of the sugar, reserving 1 tbsp of sugar to sprinkle over the edges. Fold the edges over the gooseberries, brush the edges with egg wash and sprinkle with the remaining sugar.

Bake on the lower half of the oven for about 35-40 minutes until the crust is golden brown.