I sigh, you sigh, we all sigh for summer pie!

I LOVE pie. And I LOVE summer. Therefore, it's no surprise that I LOVE summer pie. There are so many possibilities for pie in the summertime; with so much fresh fruit in season one almost can't go wrong.
Here are some of my most recent pie creations:

Early Peach Pie
I got some early peaches at Jones Orchard in Millington and while they're a little bit tedious to slice because they're pretty small, boy were they good. I love peaches in the summertime. A little cream, a little brown sugar, a few spices, and a ton of early peaches made the perfect filling for this lattice crusted beauty.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
TTDF. Totally To Die For. The key with any rhubarb dessert is to not get carried away with too much sugar and to not let the other main ingredient, in this case the strawberries, steal the show. Rhubarb is a "wallflower" flavor and easily overwhelmed by the luscious strawberry or the dazzling raspberry. I tend to think of rhubarb as the Ally Sheedy of summer produce: subtly pretty, kind of quiet- remove the glasses and brush her hair and you've got a real winner.

Blueberry Pie
I'll also call this one 'my new favorite breakfast'. The filling is almost entirely fresh blueberries so I can easily justify it as 'health food'. In fact, I just make this one a double-crust... you know, to make sure enough I get a healthy amount of "bread" with the meal... maybe a little ice cream for dairy...

The difference between a good fruit pie and a stellar fruit pie lies in... the fruit. It seems elementary that one should choose ingredients whose flavor is good enough to stand alone, but surprisingly few people seem to follow this bit of logic. People figure that if it's going to be cooked or mixed with other ingredients, it's okay to cheat on quality. My dad always told me "never cook with a wine you wouldn't drink on its own" and I believe that bit of wisdom applies across the food ingredient spectrum.

Ok, the post is getting a bit long (and I'm getting hungry), but never fear... I imagine I'll rhapsodize about pies many more times over the course of the summer!

Have a great weekend!!!