It's August in Northwest Montana and we Montanans are basking in the few glorious weeks of our alpine summer. Big Mountain has shed the last remnants of its heavy winter coat and is now blanketed in dainty wildflowers and beargrass. The sun, long hidden under its gray shroud, casts its brilliant countenance to the delight of sun-starved beings below. Out of the monochrome of winter, color bursts forth in a frenzy. Yellows and pinks and lush greens dot the landscape, and to those who choose to trek to higher elevations, a purple treat awaits.
Huckleberries!
Huckleberries thrive in the northwestern mountain regions of the United States. The purplish berry is smaller than a blueberry and has a distinctive piquant flavor. They grow in brambly patches on rugged mountainsides and are rather labor intensive to harvest. Huckleberries are not produced commercially and bears love to eat them which makes them worth their weight in gold.
Whitefish, Montana, my home for the past 17 years, hosts an annual huckleberry festival each August. Huckleberry Days is a celebration of our native purple fruit which draws berry-loving folks far and wide. The three day event features arts, crafts and a bake-off contest of which yours truly won top honors for a huckleberry cake entry. Although I did not enter a huckleberry recipe this year, my pie blog will most definitely feature a huckleberry pie. My dear friend Teresa gifted me with the first fruits of her huckleberry picking foray; her hours of picking yielded three cups of the purple preciousness.
I've chosen an all butter crust to pair with the filling. The recipe is amazingly easy and quick, a welcome change to the tedium of harvesting the berries. If you have access to huckleberries or know of a friend who will share their stash, you indeed are blessed. For those of you not so fortunate, you can order frozen huckleberries online at www.nwwildfoods.com. If you are craving a huckleberry pie NOW and do not want to hassle with baking one, visit www.thehuckleberrypatch.com to order a made from scratch pie. It will cost you a pretty penny, actually 4,895 pretty pennies. But trust me, a taste of fresh huckleberry pie is worth every penny you plunk down.
If patience is one of your virtues and you can endure one of my shameless plugs for the charming town I call home, I recommend saving your pretty pennies for a trip to beautiful Whitefish, Montana next August where you can hike our gorgeous trails in search of the coveted huckleberry!
Crust:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1/2 cup cold water
Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter, tossing it with the flour. With electric mixer on low speed, blend butter into the flour until you have what looks like coarse, damp meal. Turning the mixer on and off, add half of the water. Mix briefly on low speed. Add the remaining water, mixing slowly until the dough starts to form large clumps. Do not overmix.
Test the dough by squeezing some of it between your fingers. Add water, a teaspoon at a time, if the dough seems dry and not packable. Using your hands, pack the dough into 2 balls. Make one ball slightly larger than the other; this will become your bottom crust. Knead each ball once or twice, then flatten into 3/4-inch thick disks and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least an hour before rolling.
On a sheet of lightly floured waxed paper, roll the larger portion of dough into a 12-inch circle with a floured rolling pin. Invert over a 9-inch pie pan, center, and peel off paper. Tuck the pastry into the pan, and let the overhang drape over the edge. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Filling:
3 cups frozen huckleberries, partially thawed
3 1/2 tablespoons quick cooking tapioca
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into 1/4" cubes
Mix first three filling ingredients together and let stand 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
On a separate sheet of floured waxed paper, roll the other half of the pastry into a 10-inch circle. Remove pie shell from refrigerator and pour filling ingredients into shell. Dot filling with butter cubes. Lightly moisten the rim of the pie shell. Invert the top pastry over the filling, center, and peel off paper. Press the top and bottom pastries together along the dampened edge and flute into a decorative edge if desired. Pierce top crust with fork prongs or a knife to allow steam to escape while baking.
Place the pie on the center oven rack and bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Place foil or pie crust guard on crust edge if overbrowning occurs. Remove pie from oven and cool pie on a wire rack. Serve slightly warm with vanilla ice cream or freshly whipped cream, if desired.
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