Berry Lemon Verbena Pie

My daughter went on a field trip last month to a local market.  They had rows and rows of plants, and she was drawn to the herb table.  She discovered a lemon verbena plant, and she was so excited about the lemony smell of the leaves.  After school, she begged me to bring her back to the market so she could buy the plant.  With four dollars of her own money in hand, she bought herself a lemon verbena plant that afternoon.

It smelled pretty, but we weren’t sure what to do with it.  I search the blogosphere and came across this pie recipe.  We worked off this recipe to come up with our own version, which had to include raspberries, of course, since our little crop continues to yield a few cups of raspberries every day.  The gluten-free crust is based on this recipe from Lisa at 100 Days of Real Food.  If you’re looking for a whole-wheat crust, I recommend you try hers.  It’s simple and delicious.

Ingredients for the Filling:
2 ½ cups blueberries
2 cups raspberries
Zest and juice of one lemon
10 lemon verbena leaves, chopped
¼ cup maple syrup
1 tbs. tapioca (or other) starch

Ingredients for the Crust:
2 ¼ cups gluten-free flour*
½ cup melted ghee
½ tsp. salt
1/3 cup rice milk

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Stir together the filling ingredients in a large bowl and set aside while you prepare the crust.
3. Mix the crust ingredients in a medium bowl with a fork until you have a uniform dough.
4. Split the dough into 2 balls.  One ball should be 2/3 of the dough and the other ball should be 1/3 of the dough.
5. Roll out the larger ball of dough on a floured work surface.  (Alternately, you can roll it out between 2 pieces of plastic wrap.)
6. Place the crust in an 8-inch pie dish.  Spoon the filling into the uncooked crust.
7. Roll out the other portion of dough and cut it into ½-inch wide strips.  Place the strips in a lattice pattern on top of the filling.
8. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the crust begins to turn brown.

Price Breakdown
This pie costs a total of $5.27, or $.66 per piece.  The raspberries were free from my garden, so that helped!  Pie takes a bit of work to make, but this one is definitely worth the effort.

Note: My gluten-free flour mix is 4 parts brown rice flour, 2 parts tapioca flour, 1 part potato starch, and ½ tsp. xanthan gum for every cup of flour.  Also, if you can’t get your hands on some lemon verbena, this pie will taste great with just the lemon juice and lemon zest.

Linking to Ingredient Spotlight, Fit and Fabulous Friday, Fresh Bites Friday, Farm Girl Friday, Fight Back Friday, Mix It Up Monday, Melt in Your Mouth Monday.