The Unofficial Roches' Strawberry Apricot Pie

I spent the 4th of July weekend in Maine for some summer days in the ocean air with good pals. Having listened to a lot of my favorite 80s sister trio cheese folk group The Roches before the trip, this song in particular, I had it in my mind to make a strawberry apricot pie. This might sound like a weird desire to have in the land of wild blueberries, but up there, blueberries were still mostly green or purple, but strawberry season was in full force.

I know for a fact, because on our way up to my friend Jamie's cottage, our main haunt for the weekend, we stopped into my friends Nathan & Clara's blueberry farm in Brooklin (the site of Jamie's last plate licking nothing-in-the-house appearance), and there Magpie and I closely inspected the status of the berries. Not ready yet, as much as Magpie wanted them to be.

On our first full day on Mount Desert Island, I walked to the downtown grocer's in the morning to pick up a few items and check out the potential pie fruit. There I found the ripest local Maine strawberries, and some decent fresh apricots (probably not local). Then we went out for an afternoon sail, capped by an evening gin-and-tonics plus nachos happy hour at Dockside.

While the boys foraged for mussels along the causeway and prepared dinner, I set to work on the pie. I initially envisioned making a cold "ice box" variety, but when I asked the dudes whether they preferred warm or cold pie, all three of them gave me a blank look, and were like "WARM, DUHnoquestionHELLO!!"

Using a strawberry-rhubarb pie recipe as a guideline, here's the approximate recipe I improvised:

The Roches' Strawberry Apricot Pie

Ingredients
Nothing in the House pie crust
4 c. (approx.) fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
4 c. (approx.) fresh apricots, thinly sliced
1/4 c. port
1 c. sugar
3 Tblsp. corn starch (can use arrowroot)
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
1 egg, beaten
1 Tsp. Turbinado sugar

Directions
1. Prepare dough for crust.

2. Soak apricot slices in port for approx. 1 hr in a medium-sized bowl. Add strawberries, sugar, cornstarch, and lemon zest.

3. Roll out half of crust in a 10-inch greased and floured pie plate. Pour fruit filling into crust and top with crust, fluting edges. Brush on an egg wash and sprinkle with Turbinado sugar.

4. Bake at 425 degrees F for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 375 and bake for 35-40 minutes more. Let cool, but serve while still warm, with vanilla ice cream.

Don't worry Maggie and Suzzy and Terre, I can't vouch for Dublin, but if you're going away to Maine, there's strawberry apricot pie. You might be compelled to lick your plate, but you won't die.