Blueberry Pancake Breakfast Pie

Y3, Week One: It’s a whole breakfast in a slice of pie

Holy crap, it’s the third Summer of Pie. If you’d told me two years ago that I’d still be doing this, I’d have said nobody likes pie that much. I was wrong. People love pie, people love pie a lot. Maybe because it’s so versatile, it can be anything you want it to be: savory or sweet, skinny or fat, rich or bland, fancy or plain, complex or simple. Pie is George Clooney. It’s famous and popular, yet down-to-earth and populist, all while dating smart and beautiful women and living in an Italian villa. Hmm, I probably should get out more…

Actually, I’m hoping to do exactly that this summer. This year is all about pie road trips. So if you live in or around Wisconsin, give a holler and I’ll see if I can stop by and make some pie! Also new this year by popular request, official Summer of Pie t-shirts! I’m hoping to have them up for sale by early June, stay tuned!

This week’s pie idea stems from the fact that I’ve been wanting pancakes for the last forever and they never seem to materialize. Well, dammit, there will be pancakes! A friend who will remain nameless doubted that this pie would be any good, but then admitted that it was a whole delicious breakfast in a pie slice. Don’t doubt me again Scott, I’m sure I can replace you with Clooney…

BLUEBERRY PANCAKE BREAKFAST PIE

Crepes Crust

(adapted from “The New York Times Cook Book”, Basic Crepe Recipe)

1/3 cup sifted flour
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 cup half and half or whole milk
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp melted butter, clarified is preferred, but not required

1 9″ pie pan, greased
1 clean kitchen towel

Preheat oven to 300°.

Whisk together flour, eggs, and egg yolks. Whisk in milk, sugar, and salt until thoroughly blended.

Heat a 8-9″ skillet on medium high heat and brush with a thin coating of butter. When pan is hot (drops of water should sizzle and “dance” across the surface briefly before evaporating), pour in 1/3 cup of batter and tilt the pan immediately so that the batter spreads evenly over the entire bottom of the pan. Cook for 2-4 minutes until edges begin to brown very slightly. Turn crepe over onto dish towel to cool. Repeat until you have 6 crepes (you may end up with more, feel free to eat them!).

Position cooked crepes inside of greased pie pan until the entire pan is covered (crepes should overhang edges a little bit). Bake in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, until edges of the crepes are golden and crispy. Set aside.

Breakfast Meat Layer

This layer is optional, but I highly recommend it! Cook up some of your favorite breakfast meat (or faux soy-based meat) for the bottom layer of the pie. Suggestions include:

• 6-8 sausage links
• 5-6 sausage patties
• 5-6 rounds of canadian bacon or ham
• 6-8 strips of thick cut bacon

Cover the bottom of the cooked crepe shell with the cooked meat. Set aside.

Blueberry Filling

1 1/2 cups small blueberries, frozen works well
4 tsp corn starch
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp lemon juice

In a small saucepan on medium heat, mix all ingredients together. Cook for about 5-7 minutes, or until mixture has thickened, but the blueberries have not broken down completely. Remove from heat, let cool slightly for about 15 minutes. Pour into pie shell on top of the breakfast meat, cover completely. Set aside.

Maple Custard

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp salt
2 cups half and half or whole milk
3 egg yolks
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, flour, cornstarch and salt. Slowly whisk in milk, constantly stirring until it’s steaming and slightly thickened.

In a separate bowl slowly pour about 1/3 of the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks by whisking constantly. Whisk the egg mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining milk mixture; stirring continuously. Switching to a heat proof spatula, stir in the butter and continue to cook until mixture thickens. At first the mixture with become quite lumpy, keep stirring and eventually it will smooth out and thicken to a pudding-like consistency. Remove from heat and stir in maple syrup and vanilla. Pour into the remainder of the pie shell. Decorate with a few random blueberries and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.