The market was running a special on berries ($1.99 for 6 oz.
blueberries, $2.99 for 6 oz. raspberries and blackberries) which
looked like a good idea to counteract the completely miserable SoCal
weather we've been having for a week now. The weather's been so bad
[how bad is it, you're asking] that I expect to shortly be paying my
taxes to the Mexican government, which is where my house may wind up
being blown.

Anyway, I was flipping through my dessert choices and decided to
experiment a bit and cobbled up the following, which turned out really
well:

Berry Crumb Pie

Tweaked from recipes by James Beard's _American Cookery_ and _The
Magnolia Bakery Cookbook_

Crust:

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
3 tablespoons ice water

Filling:

4 cups berries
1 cup sugar (+/-)
6 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Crumb Topping:

2 1/4 cps all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups unpacked light brown sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, softened

Preheat oven to 425°F

To make the crust: place the flour, shortening and ice water in the
large bowl of a food processor. Using on/off turns to cut shortening
in until dough is moist and clings together. Form dough into a ball.
On a lightly flowered surface, roll out the dough to fit into a 9 inch
glass pie pan. Fold the edges under all around the rim and crimp.

Pick over berries and rinse well, drain. Combine with the sugar,
flour, salt and lemon juice. Turn into a pastry-lined pie pan.

To prepare topping: in the large bowl a food processor, place the
flour, brown sugar and butter. Again, using on/off turns, cut in
butter and mix flour and sugar until the mixture resembles course
crumbs.

Bake at 425°F 10 mins., reduce heat to 375°F and bake 25 - 30 mins.
longer. Cool on a rack or serve warm.

Terry "Squeaks" Pulliam Burd

---

"If the soup had been as warm as the wine,
if the wine had been as old as the turkey,
and if the turkey had had a breast like the maid,
it would have been a swell dinner." Duncan Hines