Headed to Maine | Blueberry Cheesecake Pie

We'll be leaving for a Maine vacation shortly and I'm very excited about it. I've never been there and it's a trip that's been on my bucket list. (So is Italy -- Tuscany, Naples, Amalfi, Palermo, I don't care. Soon.)

And is it just coincidental that in recent weeks a couple blogs I frequent wrote about their trips to Maine? Joy the Baker enjoyed a schooner trip (and lobster) and Karen at The Back Road Journal posted about Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park and Rockport.  And after I commented on Karen's blog, I heard from Linda, another Maine blogger, who gave me some great insider information.  If my appetite wasn't whetted before then, it sure is now.

And although the scenery is the biggest attraction, food comes in at a very close second.  And I don't think there's anyplace that has two foods more synonymous with its name than lobster and blueberries, is there?

I don't have lobster very often so I'm anxious to wrestle a couple. Blueberries I get plenty of, since we have 10 bushes of our own. I know Maine blueberries are different: they're wild, low bush berries, mine are the cultivated, high bush. Supposedly Maine berries are sweeter, but I'll reserve judgment, since I like my own pretty darn well.

In the meantime, if I wasn't ready already, this pie helped put me more in the Maine frame of mind. I made  pie filling with my frozen berries and it was just great. I make a pretty darn good traditional cheesecake, if I do say so myself,  but this pie is less cheesecake, more blueberry and it's a very nice change of pace from my usual blueberry sauce topped cheesecake.  Would it be any different with Maine blueberries?

Blueberry Cheesecake Pie
makes about 10 servings
adapted from Eagle Brand

1 recipe blueberry pie filling (see below)
1 unbaked pie shell -- your own pastry or purchased
1 8 ounce brick of cream cheese, softened
1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Combine 1 cup of the blueberry pie filling (reserve the rest for topping) and pour into the pie crust.  Bake 15 minutes.

In a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese until fluffy.  With motor running, gradually pour in the sweetened condensed milk, eggs, lemon juice and vanilla.  Pour into partially baked pie.

Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F. and bake an additional 25 minutes or until set.  Cool. Chill. Spoon the remaining blueberry filling over sliced pieces as you serve them.

Blueberry Pie Filling
adapted from food.com
2 pints (4 cups) blueberries, fresh or frozen)
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon lemon rind
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Combine 1 cup berries with 3/4 cup sugar in pan on stove. Simmer on low heat until sugar is melted and mixture is very liquid, about 5 minutes.  Combine cornstarch and water in a bowl and then add to the pan with the blueberries.  Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a full boil and is clear and thick. Pour hot mixture into a large bowl and let cool until warm.  Fold in the remaining 3 cups of blueberries, lemon rind  seasoning s and butter. Let cool before adding to pie crust or using in the cheesecake pie recipe above.

Competition and Blueberry Salsa

There's nothing like a good healthy competition.  (Ask my online Scrabble buddies.) But I know for sure I'm losing the battle for the blueberries with the birds. They're definitely winning. And no strategy I can think of -- not even Mr. Rosemary's BB gun -- is keeping them away. It's a race and the early bird is beating me to the berries.

We've tried netting, but we didn't do it the "right" way and build frames and then attach netting to that.  We simply draped flexible fence material over it. We've also tried fake snakes and draping old garden hose -- so that they look like snakes.  Still, there are birds beating us to the harvest.

Our latest attempt was one of those fake owls.  The little tag said to place it "before the fruit ripens."  We were too late.

We're lucky that the former owners had the foresight to plant a couple different varieties among the ten blueberry bushes we have because they ripen at different times making it manageable. Except for the birds.

And despite the birds' tenacity we usually end up with more than enough for ourselves and plenty to give away.  I just have to wonder how many quarts they're eating.

The only problem is coming up with different ways to use them. I freeze a lot, but the fresh are so good! Mr. Rosemary loves to eat them plain, maybe lightly sugared, but especially mixed with a variety of berries.  I loved the corn and blueberry salad And he likes my blueberry muffins but that's only a once in a while treat. But he didn't really like the blueberry strata  And although I love blueberry pie, he doesn't, and I don't need to eat the whole thing.  I should try hand pies.

So to satisfy my need to experiment and explore I found this blueberry salsa and it was pretty good. Just pretty good. Keeping some of the blueberries whole is pretty but not very practical because they're hard to keep on a tortilla chip or a cracker. The solution? Spread some creamy cheese -- goat, mascarpone or just Philadelphia -- on a cracker, then top it with the salsa. Kinda defeats the purpose of eating a light fruity salsa, but it's good that way. I didn't try it along side a grilled meat, but I'm sure a plain piece of chicken or pork would love to be accessorized with it.


In the meantime, I'll keep exploring blueberry recipes, and keep after the birds. Wish me luck.

Blueberry Salsa
adapted from Southern Living

2 cups coarsely chopped fresh blueberries
1 cup whole blueberries
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
1 whole Roma tomato, seeded and chopped
1.2 teaspoon kosher salt.

Mix all together in a large bowl.  That's it.