Strawberry Rhubarb Pie v 1.0

I had wanted to make the missionaries my signature strawberry plum pie, but alas! No plums at the grocery store. But hark! early rhubarb! Cut and prepackaged along side the strawberries. Despite never having cooked with rhubarb before, I bought some and attempted my first strawberry rhubarb pie, thinking of it along the same lines as the strawberry plum pie with some distinct differences.

THE CRUST:

2C flour
1 t salt

2/3 C yellow shortening
5-7 T cold water

1) Combine the flour & salt in a mixing bowl. Cut in the shortening. Then add the water 1 T at a time, stirring clockwise with a fork until the dough turns into a nice ball (I usually add 5 T, then one T more to the very bottom of the bowl and use my fingers to make the dough into a ball.)

THE FILLING:

1) Cut 2 green grocery containers strawberries. Remove the leafy part and then cut the strawberry in thirds so that the pieces are as flat as possible. Cut 1 lbs. rhubarb stalks into 1-inch squares.

2) In separate bowl combine:

1C sugar
1/2 cup flour
mild dash ginger
generous dash cardamom
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. mace
1/4 t cloves

1 very generous pinch white pepper

3) Add the combined above to the fruit, stir it all up so the fruit is all covered.

4) In separate bowl, whisk together 2 Tbs. sour cream and 2 Tbs. corn starch to form starchy paste. Add the paste to the top of the strawberries. Add 2 Tbs. lemon juice. Stir, until berries are coated in sour cream, sugar, and lemon juice mix. Allow the berries to sit in the juices while you roll out the crust.

ASSEMBLING THE PIE:

1) Roll out 1/2 of the dough for the bottom crust and put in the pie tin. Cut the bottom crust off at one finger's width distance from the rim of the pie plate. Prick with a fork.

2) Spoon filling into the pie crust. The strawberries will have released quite a bit of juice, due to the sugar coating. Spoon the berries into the crust, but leave the extra juices in the bottom of the bowl behind (this may be about 1/4-1/3 cup of juices left behind. If you add them, the pie will be too soupy.)

3) Roll out the remaining dough for the top. Place the top crust over the pie and cut the top crust off at two finger's width distance from the rim of the pie plate. Fold the top crust edge over the bottom crust edge just inside of the pie plate and flute the edge. Cut a pattern into the top crust to help some of the juices escape during baking.

4) Bake pie for 20 min at 425-450 F (depending on your oven) and then 35-40 min at 350 F. It's wise to put a cookie sheet on the rack beneath the pie while it's baking just in case some of the juices run over (they will.)

5) Let the pie cool on the counter, then chill the pie in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours before serving (preferably overnight, which allows the pie to settle thickly together).

What a wonderful tart pie. I was afraid that this pie would be too strong, but I loved it-- the perfect combination of textures and flavors. It's possible that all the spices obscured the rhubarb a little too much, but the spices really help the strawberries have some oomph, and I think the rhubarb was able to hold its own. I might even reduce the sugar just a little bit next time, but keep the level of spicing. I would also be willing to try this pie with the buttermilk crust from Sokolov's pumpkin pie, but that might be overkill. I will have to make a strawberry rhubarb pie without much spicing to compare and know if the rhubarb does equally well without the extra spicy help.

I think the strawberry pie still remains my signature event.

Also consider this: rhubarb is a vegetable.