Bhluebarb crumble pie

Because I have family in Maine and I am generally spoiled by that family, I almost always have a lot of frozen blueberries in my freezer. Real, Maine blueberries; not those large and mostly tasteless things that come from Jersey and CA. Tiny, healthy, sweet, hand-winnowed, Maine blueberries. I throw a handful in things here and there; the Greek yogurt smoothie (no recipe but post coming sometime) and almost anything baked with fruit in my house gets at least a hint of blueberry.

My favorite flavor of pie is strawberry rhubarb. In this part of the world, the rhubarb is ready some weeks before the strawberries. As soon as it's ready, though, I start craving rhubarb in SOMETHING. I was thinking about making a rhubarb compote so that I could throw a spoonful into things here and there, and then it came to me....a spoonful rhubarb, a handful of blueberries....I HAVE blueberries: why not put them together?

Last year I made a blueberry rhubarb crumble that was DELISH. It actually had rhubarb, blackberries, and blueberries in it. It was quite yummy. This post is a marriage of all of those ideas: What happens when rhubarb meets blueberries meets pie meets crumble?

Let's start at the bottom: pie crust. I'll admit, my favorite pie crust is the America's Test Kitchen Vodka pie crust. I don't make it. I buy pie crust. I am lazy. I use it for the bottom.

Filling:
3 cups rhubarb
3 cups blueberries (MAINE blueberries)
3/4 cup brown sugar
sprinkle of cinnamon
Some generous spoons of tapioca (whatever the box says)

NOTE: About the cinnamon. If you just use a sprinkle, all it does is take that biting tart away from the rhubarb and you won't taste it unless you are about cinnamon like I am about salt. Omit it if you are anti-cinnamon in any way.

Topping: I understand that a traditional New England fruit pie has a crust top. I like a crumble:
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
6 tbsp unsalted butter
optional: handful of chopped nuts

Assembly is as you would imagine: throw the bottom crust in a pie plate, bake it for 10-12 minutes, pull it out, add the filling (already mixed together), spread on the topping (already mixed together), bake at 400 degrees for 30-45 minutes until the crumble is all melty and cooked and brown and gorgeous, like this:

When you cut it open, it will be blue and not too saucy, like this:

I tried this two ways; once, with Ben and Jerry's Liz Lemon Greek frozen yogurt, once, with whipped cream from a can. I think ideally this would be best with fresh, slightly sweetened whipped cream. I generally don't whip cream just for myself but I wish I had for this pie!