By Laina Carter of McGrail Vineyards

It’s the time of the year when your friends, neighbors, and coworkers all seem to have an overabundance of some sort of delicious, fresh produce from their home garden. This past week I had pluots, figs, tomatoes, and zucchini shared with me. Since stone fruit is so good in pies, is super seasonal, and I had more than I would probably eat normally, a pie seemed like the best use for these tasty treats. With a bottle of our new and bold, but jammy Malbec filled with notes of plum and blackberry, I opted for this sweet summertime pairing. Enjoy this delicious mid-summer pluot blackberry amaretto pie with our incredibly inky and fruit-forward Malbec!

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Pluot-Blackberry Amaretto Pie

Makes 8 servings.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 frozen pie crusts (between 9 and 11 oz. each)
• ½ vanilla bean
• ¾ cup granulated white sugar, divided
• ½ tsp. cinnamon
• ¼ tsp. nutmeg
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 9 oz. ripe blackberries
• 3 large, ripe pluots, pits removed, chopped into ½” pieces
• 2 tsp. lemon juice
• 3 tbsp. amaretto (I used Disaronno)
• Extra sugar to sprinkle on top of pie crust.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Remove pie crusts from freezer and allow to defrost completely.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
3. Cut vanilla bean down the middle. Use a spoon to scoop vanilla beans out of shell into a medium bowl. Add ½ cup sugar. Take vanilla bean and rub inside with sugar to work the remaining tiny vanilla beans out of the shell. Stir vanilla beans and sugar, so they are evenly dispersed (vanilla beans will clump together).
4. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt to sugar and vanilla mixture. Stir well.
5. In a large bowl, combine blackberries, chopped pluots, lemon juice, and amaretto. Stir.
6. Add sugar mixture to fruit mixture and fold together well.
7. Oil a 9” glass pie pan. Place one pie crust in pan. Pour pie filling into crust. Use extra pie crust to create a lattice over the filling or another classic pie crust design. 
8. Bake pie at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Bake pie for 15 minutes. Sprinkle pie with sugar and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until baked completely.
9. Allow pie to cool for about 45 minutes or longer before serving. Enjoy with a glass of McGrail Malbec.

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Please let us know if you make this warm, jammy pairing! We’d love to hear from you.

Cheers and enjoy!