=Blueberry Walnut Basil Goat Cheese Pie=

I know. This one sounds weird. I thought so, too, the first time I ever heard of it. That would have been on an episode of Diners, Drive-ins, & Dives a couple of years ago. It was featured as a special desert—if I remember correctly—served at an Indianapolis restaurant called Three Sisters.

Since then, I've made this pie—oh I don't know—maybe a couple of dozen times at least, it being one of my husband's co-favorite pies. (The other being, pecan). This is a blueberry pie that is actually packed with blueberries and has none of the sugary blue goo that stands in for the blueberries in most commercial blueberry pies. The goat cheese takes on the flavor of the blueberry and imparts a delicious creaminess to the  pie—there's nothing goat-ey or even cheesy about it. The basil—well, you don't even taste it. Not overtly, anyway. 

Over time and many pies, I've altered the original recipe, which has a lot more fat in it (heavy cream) and much sweeter (covered with a sliced almond-sugar glaze). When I cover this pie, I either do it with additional crust or with an oatmeal crumble topping. Sometimes, like the pie above, I leave the top off altogether; this is the convertible-version.

First off,  make yourself a pie crust. Of course, you can buy a prepared crust, but I prefer to make it myself. Press it into the bottom of a pie dish.

Next, make the filling:

In a bowl place a half cup of goat cheese, 1 egg, half a cup of brown sugar, 1/4 cup of flour, a pinch of salt, a teaspoon of vanilla extract, and 1 tablespoon of chopped basil, fresh if possible. Instead of a half cup of heavy cream, I've used many different variations. This time I used a half cup of low fat cream cheese loosened up with some nonfat milk. Mix all this together with a hand blender. 

Dip a finger into this goop and take a lick. It's already pretty delicious. If you want it sweeter, this would be the time to add more sugar. If it's sweet enough, you now fold in five cups of blueberries. Yup. That's a lot of blueberries—and blueberries are usually rather pricey. That's why most commercial blueberry pies are short on the blueberries and heavy on the blue goop. 

Add a quarter cup of chopped walnuts.  Mix.

That's it. Pretty simple.

Now pour this mixture into your prepared pie crust. If you're not going with a topping, off you go to the oven. The pie bakes at 350 for between 25-30 minutes. 

You can eat this warm, but it's a bit messy. If you don't care, dig in. Otherwise, let the pie cool and set completely and it will cut cleaner. Put it in the fridge for a couple of hours or let it set overnight and it gets easier still. Cold or warm, it's creamy blueberry yumminess.