A VIP customer was coming to Angeli, read the Pie-a-Day blog and requested I make a pie for his party of 7. He let me know that he was fond of mango.
I looked in the refrigerator and saw a lot of small amounts of fruit, none on their own enough to make a pie. My solution was to combine them. So, into the bowl went some blackberries, a couple of mangoes and two apples that were about to go south. I decided to peel the apples and grate the flesh on a teardrop grater, so that they would bulk up the quantity of fruit but be subervient to the blackberry and mango flavors and color.
When I added sugar to the fruit they gave off a lot of liquid so I decided to try out tapioca as my thickener. I had time so I mixed in a couple of tablespoons and let the fruit sit, stirring occasionally to allow the tapioca to soak up the juices.
To reinforce the tropical flavor of the mango I decided to make a crumble with coconut and brown sugar. I added some almonds for crunch. It was delicious and allowed the black and deep yellow colors of the fruit to peek through.
We were all happy with the result.