How to make a wild blackberry pie

Blackberry Pie:

I do not have a recipe. This will be a cowboy attempt from the hip but I will let you know how it goes by updating this blog.

Heat oven to 350 degrees

First of all we need some blackberries. I am going to start with about 1/2 gallon that I just picked from the forest. I am going rinse and clean them.

** Taste the blackberries** this will tell you how much sugar you should add. Mine are a little sour so I am thinking about 1/2 C or 3/4 C. I am going to start with 1/2 C. I might add a little molasses...just a touch and maybe some honey.

I am going to add 1 - 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla. Taste the juice to see if that is enough vanilla.

1 tablespoon of flour so the juice gets thick.

Option: soak blackberries in rum or brandy for a little bit or create a blackberry reduction sauce that will get poured over the fresh berries. ( I will blog how to do that next)

We are ready to add the blackberries to the pie shell. Oh wait! We don't have one. No worries. There are two that I use. One is from Ina Garten and one is from an old book my wife has..Century 21 cooking. Both of these turn out great. Ina's is more along the line of puffed pastry shell but is wonderful. Here is a link to her's:Ina's pastry dough

Let's assemble the pie by adding the berry mix to the shell. Add the reduction sauce if you made one or the sugar then add some flour to thicken the mixture. Reserve some of your reduction sauce to drizzle over the top when serving.

Cut slits in the top crust or cut out cool designs. Lay it on top and crimp the edges.

Place the pie on a baking sheet and let's bake it for about an hour.

Twist: I like candied ginger. You can try taking a piece of candied ginger about the size of a nickel. Mince it and sprinkle it on the berries before lidding the pie. I think it will add a nice zing.

Fruit Carving 101

9/2
Did some large watermelon flowers last weekend...I posted a pic of it. Turned out nice. The ultimate in carving is by Jeff Addison of Cool Carvings. He does his in like 300lb blocks of ICE! Awesome! We are working with him to offer you his carvings for your events. They are not free but so worth it. So get in touch with us and we can hook you up with Jeff.

8/24
The school house carving turned out to be more of a challenge than I figured. I did complete the baby stroller and posted pics up on the website. So check it out.

8/11
Ordered a new book on garnishing. There is a fishing net continuously carved from a carrot! Crazy but I might try it as it looks fairly easy ;).
We have been smashed with events in July and our daughter leaves for college today. I plan to get back to blogging and carving. Chow

8/10
The swan with the grapes flowing out of it on a pedestal was a huge hit. However, our tablespace was limited and we could not place all the little swans or the blue sugar. So we had to make due but it was still a nice touch. No pictures :( . Due to the loss in table space we had to do a total redesign in less than an hour. So by the time that was done, guests were arriving. So you will have to take my word for it that it was a hit. They would have been blown away if they could of seen my 8 ft fruit display! It was still really nice.


7/17
I am working on a swan made from a honeydew melon. I plan to use it during a reception coming up. I plan to have it on a pedestal with grapes on all sides. To add a visual effect, I am going to use blue sugar to create a "pond" to make it appear the swan is floating in it. I am going to also carve some apple swans that sit on mirrors. I will post final pictures given the client approves. I will post some build pictures also.

7/16
Some of my recent carvings have been posted on Chiff.com. Go there and take a look.

7/11
We are preparing for a big wedding on July 24th. We want it to be a smash hit. So Lisa and I are working the white board to come up with great presentation ideas. I am thinking of creating a sculpture using a watermelon and perhaps some pineapples. Check out the home page for my latest carvings. I will post an update with some trials I do this week. If you have an idea, send it to me.

I hear wedding bells ...

Our new name and the expansion started May 27, 2010. We have been booked nearly every weekend since June. We just completed a 100 person outdoor wedding and a benefit kick-off at the Tiki House.

On the 4th, we were at the Tiki house serving over 100 guests for a reception and anniversary party. They ate some of our pulled pork that is smoked for 8 hours with home-made BBQ sauce. I tried it to make sure it was good. WOW! are they lucky! It was a smashing success.

Planning for a large wedding in Warrensburg in a few weeks. We will keep you posted.