Pie-a-Day #43: Blackberry Mango with Almond Coconut Crumble

Written by

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.