We lived for days on nothing but food and water. 
W. C. Fields. 
Blackberry Picking + Blackberry plate Pie.
I often wonder if anyone goes blackberry picking these days, I like to think there must be some who still do. I know that children now think that blackberries come neatly packaged in clear plastic boxes from the fruit shop, but they don’t have to. Not when there are loads of blackberry brambles out in the countryside and you can enjoy a family outing out on a fine autumn day, picking the sweet black fruits for free.
Blackberries ripen in September and October and when I was a lad my brother and I would pester mum for a couple of empty jam jars and set off for our favourite patch of brambles to pick blackberries. Later when the jars were full we would return home, covered in scratches from the brambles, with our mouths and fingers stained red and by the time we’d manage to scrub off the stains, mum would already have started on a pie.
Copyright © Fred Watson 2008
Blackberry plate Pie.
Short crust pastry.
15 oz white flour
3 oz lard
3 oz margarine
3 tablespoons of water
½ a teaspoon of salt
Make up pastry
Mix flour and salt in bowl, cut margarine and lard into small cubes, place in bowl and rub between fingers until the mixture feel like breadcrumbs, stir with a round-ended knife until it begins to bind, then knead it lightly with your hands until becomes dough, allow to rest for ten minutes.
Filling
1 lb blackberries
2 tablespoons of sugar
Method
Take an enamel soup plate with a rim, roll out half of the pastry and line the plate with it including the rim, fill with black berries and sprinkle on the sugar.
Roll out the rest of the pastry to make the lid, brush the pastry rim with water, cover with lid, crimp the edges with a fork, cut 2 small slits in the lid, brush lid with water and sprinkle with a little sugar.
Bake in oven Gas 6, 400°F, 200°C for 35 minutes.
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