Truly Short Shortcake

The redeeming thing about these (and the plum gratin before it) was that I was able to eat these in one of my favorite summer ways: the biscuit split open, with a layer of plain Greek yogurt on each half, and fruit (or fruit puree) scooped over the top. Like a strawberry shortcake with yogurt instead of cream, and more mash to the fruit. Otherwise, this biscuit was a little disappointing. The texture was nice and biscuity, but I like my other biscuit recipe better, and this lacked flavor even with me using buttermilk. The problem is I just keep trucking along, hoping to find alternates when I have things I am already perfectly happy with. So the chances of making this again are slim, but this is not a blog about perfection, just about archiving. Trying. Experimenting. Being. 

Note: I only made the cake part, not the berries. Also, the recipe says this makes 12, but what a mighty small 12 those would be. I made six more substantial sized scones by cutting a round of the dough into six triangles.

From Mark Bittman:

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/29/dining/the-minimalist-truly-short-shortcake.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm

Ingredients:

1 1/2 C. sugar

2 C. cake flour or all-purpose flour

Pinch salt

4 tsp. baking powder

4 T. cold butter

7/8 C. milk (low fat is ok)

6 C. cleaned and sliced strawberries

Sweetened whipped cream

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Toss the strawberries with 1 cup sugar. 

2. Mix remaining sugar with flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl or food processor. Cut the butter into bits, and either pulse it a few times quickly in the processor with the dry ingredients or take a little of the dry ingredients, rub a bit of butter into them with your fingers and drop back in the bowl. All the butter should be thoroughly blended.

3. Slowly add the milk to the bowl, stirring it in with a large spoon until the mixture forms a ball. The mixture should be sticky; use a little more or less milk if necessary. 

4. Drop mixture onto an ungreased baking sheet, one heaping tablespoon per cake. 

5. Bake about 10 minutes, or until biscuits are golden brown. (Keep an eye on them; once browning starts, it goes quickly.) Let cool a bit; top with strawberries and their juices and the whipped cream.

Strawberry and Cream Biscuits

I will be done with new "scone" recipes some day, I promise. Some day when I'm no longer obsessed... I promise, this one was definitely worth it. Yes! Yes is was! This produced a concoction with a lovely flaky exterior with a soft, moist interior and not too much sweetness-- definitely more biscuity than cakey. And so easy too! And better than the prior strawberry scone recipe I have posted. This now becomes my go to for strawberry scones. And maybe pear scones and everything scones... that is until I find another new recipe. Or want an oatmeal scone. Or a chocolate chip scone. Or... 

Notes: I used half whole wheat flour and loved it, no reason to do it differently next time. Although next time I might try using turbinado sugar instead of white sugar, for some extra crunch and a little interest. 

From Smitten Kitchen:

http://smittenkitchen.com/2012/06/strawberries-and-cream-biscuits/

Ingredients:

2 1/4 C. all-purpose flour (I used half whole wheat, loved it)

1 T. baking powder

1/4 C. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

6 T. cold, unsalted butter

1 C. chopped very ripe strawberries (could add more)

1 C. heavy cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In the bottom of a large, wide-ish bowl, whisk flours, baking powder, sugar and salt together. Cut butter into the flour mixture with a pastry blender, breaking it up until the mixture resembles a crumbly meal with tiny pea-sized bits of butter about. 

3. Gently stir in the strawberries, so that they are coated in dry ingredient, then stir in heavy cream. When you’ve mixed it in as best as you can with the spatula, go ahead and knead it once or twice in the bowl, to create one mass. 

4. Generously flour your counter. With as few movements as possible, transfer your dough to the counter, generously flour the top of it and with your hands or a rolling pin, gently roll or press the dough out to a 3/4-inch thickness round and cut into 8 even triangles. Carefully transfer scones to prepared baking sheet, leaving a couple inches between each.

5. Bake the scones for 12 to 15 minutes, until bronzed at the edges and the strawberry juices are trickling out of the biscuits in places. Cool in pan for a minute, then transfer to a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Strawberry & Lemon Curd Easy Summer Pie

So there was this time when I saw an "easy summer pie" recipe in the New York Times and I wanted it SO BADLY to be the best summer pie because not only did it have strawberries and lemons, but the crust had vanilla wafers and saltines, something I first was introduced to by SLB when she was SLO but have never tried myself. So I was so excited to try this! I was!....

But oh dear. What a disaster it was. Not all the recipe's fault, but certainly parts of it were. For starters, the crust was so salty the Robber and I couldn't even eat it, we scraped all the curd off and threw the crust away. I think it is salvageable, so I'll post the recipe here sans extra salt anyway, just in case I get bold enough to try it again in the future. Secondly, I ended up dumping almost half the curd on the kitchen floor. And then, the berries. Well. Call me boring, but I like them better just plain with sugar. Gah. But what I am posting is the original recipe sans salt in the crust so here you have it, if after all my comments, you (the future me) still want to try.

From Millicent Souris' new cookbook "How To Build A Better Pie" by way of the NYTimes:

http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/01/bookshelf-how-to-build-a-better-pie/?ref=dining

Ingredients:

For the saltine vanilla wafer cracker crust:

½ sleeve saltine crackers (16)

16 vanilla wafers

1 stick unsalted butter

¼ C. granulated sugar

1 egg white 

For the lemon curd (yield: 2 cups):

Juice & zest of 3 lemons

1 stick unsalted butter

1 C. granulated sugar

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

For the strawberry topping:

1 pint strawberries (the smaller the better)

2 T. raw sugar

Zest and juice of one lemon

½ tsp. salt

3 sprigs of tarragon, or 4 sprigs of mint, or 4 sprigs of chervil

Optional: a scraped vanilla pod

Directions:

For the crust: 

1. Melt butter in a small pan. Pull from heat before it browns and let cool. 

2. Toss the crackers and wafers in a food processor and pulse until crumbs begin to form. Gradually add the butter, sugar, salt and egg white. Turn the food processor off, and turn the mixture into the pie plate. With a level, steady hand lightly press the crust into the plate. Evenly tap the crust across the bottom of the plate and up the sides about half an inch. It should be even in thickness. 

3. Place crust in refrigerator to rest for at least 20 minutes.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Once the crust has rested, bake it in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Pull and cool. While the crust is baking, make the lemon curd.

For the lemon curd:

1. Fill a medium-size sauce pot about a third way with water and heat. Use a bowl that will fit atop the pot, or nestle down a bit, without touching the water. Cut the butter into small chunks and toss in the bowl with the sugar. Place on the pot so it starts to melt as you zest the lemons, keeping the zest separate to add at the end. 

2. Whisk the melting butter and sugar together and add the lemon juice, whisking together well.

3. Lift your bowl and make sure the water is gently simmering (not boiling). Gently beat the three eggs in a separate bowl. Add the eggs to the bowl over simmering water, whisking everything together. 4. Once the mixture is combined, use a rubber spatula to continuously scrape the bowl around the sides (especially the bottom) so everything cooks evenly. The mixture will thicken in 7 to 10 minutes, and should become more cohesive as it firms up along the edges of the bowl.

5. Add the lemon zest and salt. Mix. 

6.Turn into another bowl and place cling wrap flush across the top of the curd (this prevents a “skin” from developing). Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

For the strawberry topping:

1. Hull the strawberries, then cut in half lengthwise (if they are bigger than the tip of your fingers). Toss them with the raw sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and salt. 

2. Pick the herb of your choice and chop. Gently bruise the stems and toss the them, the herbs and vanilla pod with the fruit. Let the mixture macerate at room temperature, while everything else cools.

Putting it all together:

1. After 30 minutes, fill the crust with the curd. Refrigerate again until the curd settles and tightens.

2. Cut the pie into 8 slices, soaking the knife into hot water after each slice and wiping it clean. Plate the slices, then take a spoonful of the dressed strawberries to top the pie. Finish with a drizzle of strawberry juice and enjoy.

Chocolate Strawberry Shortcakes

I made these for dessert on R-DAY for our guests and even the Robber, not usually a fan of chocolate and berries together, deemed these a hit. Thanks again, Annie! I love that it is a way of fancying up something as easy and simple as shortcake and making it seem decadent.

From Baking From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan by way of Annie: http://annies-eats.net/2011/08/12/chocolate-strawberry-shortcakes/

Ingredients:

For the shortcakes:

1 1/3 C. whole milk (I used 2%)

1½ tsp. vanilla extract

1 large egg, lightly beaten

3 1/3 C. all-purpose flour

2/3 C. unsweetened cocoa powder

2 T. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

½ C. sugar, plus more for sprinkling

3 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used semisweet)

1½ sticks (12 T.) cold, unsalted butter, cut into small piece

For the strawberries:

1½ lbs. strawberries, hulled and sliced or quartered

3-4 T. sugar

Squeeze of lemon juice

For the whipped cream:

1 C. heavy cream

2-3 T. confectioners’ sugar

Dash vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425˚ F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

2. In a liquid measuring cup, combine the milk, vanilla and egg. Whisk to blend. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and ½ cup of sugar. Stir to combine. Add in the butter and toss to coat the butter in the dry ingredients. Working quickly with a pastry blender or your fingers, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the pieces of butter are no larger than small peas. Mix in the chopped chocolate and toss to combine.

3. Pour the milk mixture over the dry ingredients and stir gently until a sticky dough forms. Very gently knead the dough just until most of the dry ingredients are incorporated. Be careful not to overwork the dough.

4. Scoop the dough in about 1/3 cup mounds onto the baking sheets, leaving a few inches in between. Gently pat the mounds to about 1-inch thickness. Sprinkle the tops with sugar. Bake, rotating the sheets halfway through, until the shortcakes are puff and give just slightly when lightly pressed, about 15-18 minutes total. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

5. To make the strawberries, combine the berries, sugar and lemon juice in a medium bowl. Toss well to coat the berries with the sugar and let macerate at least 30-60 minutes. If desired, mash lightly with a fork.

6. Just before serving, make the whipped cream. Place the chilled cream and confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Whip on high speed until medium-stiff peaks form, being careful not to overbeat. Blend in the vanilla.

7. To serve, split each shortcake horizontally. Top the bottom half of each shortcake with a dollop of whipped cream, spoon some of the berry mixture over the top, and replace the top half of the shortcake. Serve immediately.

Strawberry Fool

As I had all of the ingredients over the weekend and had not planned a way to fulfill my wifely duty and feed my husband something with whipped cream, I tried to make this until my blender imploded and ended up with a bowl of whipped cream and strawberries all over my counter. Never fear I added blueberries and whatnot to the cream and it was delicious, but it was not the fool.

I am all the more the fool for attempting to use a blender. Way over my head.

But here is the recipe from Mark Bittman himself:

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/recipe-of-the-day-strawberry-fool/

Ingredients:

1 pint strawberries

1/2 C. sugar, or to taste

1 C. heavy cream

1 tsp. vanilla extract, optional

Directions:

1. Hull strawberries, then wash them and chop into 1/4-inch-thick pieces. Toss with half the sugar, and wait 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they give up their juices.

2. Place half the strawberries and all the juice in a blender, and puree. Pour puree back in bowl with chopped strawberries.

3. Whip the cream with remaining sugar and vanilla until cream is stiff and holds peaks easily. Fold berries and cream together, and serve immediately, or refrigerate for up to two hours.

Variation: To make a gratin, preheat broiler, setting rack close to heat source. Hull and slice berries, and toss them in a gratin dish with half the sugar. Beat cream with half the remaining sugar and the vanilla, just until it holds soft peaks. Top berries with cream, and sprinkle with remaining sugar. Broil carefully, rotating dish so that cream browns all over. Remove and serve.

Notes from Mr. Bittman: If you have perfectly ripe, sweet berries, you may reduce the sugar called for by half. On the other hand, some berries are so tart that you will need more. I add a bit of vanilla extract to the cream for flavor, but you can consider this optional. The fool can be made with almost any fruit but is best with berries, especially strawberries.

Strawberry Scones

My third recipe in the scone series and second from Annie's Eats overall (where most of the remainder of the scone recipes will come from). Just making this recipe made me so hungry! After I had already cooked two other scone recipes. All those fresh strawberries. This recipe I followed as is, except I used tangerine zest instead of orange or lemon.

Here's the link to the recipe from Annie's, who gets the recipe originally from The Way the Cookie Crumbles, originally from Good Things Catered:

http://annies-eats.net/2010/05/26/strawberry-scones/

Ingredients:

1 large egg

¼ cup plain or vanilla yogurt

½ cup milk

1 tsp. orange or lemon zest

2¼ cups all-purpose flour

¼ cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling

1 tbsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

8 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 heaping cup diced fresh strawberries

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, yogurt, milk and citrus zest until blended; set aside. In the bowl of a food processor combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Pulse briefly to blend. Add the butter pieces to the bowl with the dry ingredients and pulse several times to cut the butter into the flour, until the largest butter pieces are the size of small peas. (If you don’t have a food processor, you can just as easily mix up the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and cut in the butter using a pastry blender or two knives or forks.) Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl.

2. Add the strawberries to the flour mixture and toss to coat. Add the wet ingredients to the bowl with the dry ingredients and gently fold together with a fork or spatula until a sticky dough has formed. Knead just a few times to ensure that all the dry ingredients are incorporated and the dough is cohesive. (Only if absolutely necessary, add more milk 1 tablespoon at a time to hydrate the remaining dry ingredients.)

3. Transfer the dough to a well floured work surface and pat into a disc about 7-8 inches in diameter. Sprinkle lightly with additional sugar. Slice the disc into 8 wedges.

4. To bake the scones, preheat the oven to 425˚ F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Place the shaped scones on the prepared baking sheet and bake until lightly browned on top, about 15 minutes. Let cool a few minutes before serving.

Note: To freeze, transfer the baking sheet with the shaped scones to the freezer and let them chill until they are firm, 30-60 minutes. Wrap the scones individually and store in a freezer-safe bag until ready to bake. Bake as originally indicated, adding a few minutes to the baking time (usually about 18-20 minutes for me.)

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie version 3.0

THE CRUST:

2C flour
1 t salt

2/3 C cold butter + 1 Tbsp. sour cream
6-8 T cold water (I add an ice cube to water in a 1 cup measure.)

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 (The butter dough will take 7-8 Tbsp and may want to be kneaded with your fingers in the bowl.) Wrap the dough tightly in saran wrap and put it in the freezer while you cut and mix up the berries.

THE FILLING:

1) Cut 2 green grocery containers strawberries as follows: wash with cold water and pat dry with a paper towel. 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, avoiding leaving long strings in your cut fruit.

2) In separate bowl combine:

3/4 C white sugar
2-4 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
generous dash ginger
1/4 tsp. cardamom
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. mace
1/4 tsp. cloves

1/8 tsp. 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 using plenty of flour. Store the other half back in the freezer while you roll out the bottom crust. Half way through rolling, flip the dough over and roll on the other side until the have a smooth, flat circle. Place 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) Roll out the remaining dough for the top as above, again using plenty of flour and flipping the crust half way through, making sure to brush excess flour of the top surface.

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) Use your fingers to wet the edges of the bottom pie crust with the ice water. 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 30 min at 425 F (depending on your oven) and then 30-35 min at 375 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).

La, le perfection in pie form. So tartly sweet, so melt-in-your-mouth, such spicy goodness. I see no reason to ever make a strawberry rhubarb pie any other way.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie version 2.0

An attempt to make a more generic strawberry rhubarb pie that wasn't quite so spicelly potent. Not because the spicy pie isn't the way to go, but because some people don't have the same palate for flavor that I do. This time I used a butter dough for the crust that turned out to be much easier for me to manage than the usual shortening dough. The net result was a thicker crust that wasn't quite as flaky as I wanted but was tasty all the same.


THE CRUST:

2C flour
1 t salt

2/3 C cold butter
5-7 T cold water (I add an ice cube to water in a 1 cup measure.)

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 (The butter dough will take 7-8 Tbsp and may want to be kneaded with your fingers in the bowl.) Wrap the dough tightly in saran wrap and put it in the freezer while you cut and mix up the berries.

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
3/8 tsp. Valencia orange peel
1 Tbsp. lemon juice

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

4) 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 using plenty of flour. Store the other half back in the freezer while you roll out the bottom crust. Half way through rolling, flip the dough over and roll on the other side until the have a smooth, flat circle. Place 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) Roll out the remaining dough for the top as above, again using plenty of flour and flipping the crust half way through, making sure to brush excess flour of the top surface.

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) Use your fingers to wet the edges of the bottom pie crust with the ice water. 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 30 min at 425 F (depending on your oven) and then 30-35 min at 375 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).

I call this the boring pie. It was good, yes, very good. But just not as interesting as my previous version. Also I've decided that a non-spicy pie should be made with bigger pieces of berry, maybe berries cut just in half, or even whole. Next up I think I want to try a whole berry strawberry pie, without additional fruit. I find these pies a little difficult to eat when the berries are big, so I might cut them just in half and do a creamier matrix to bind the berries together. Maybe cook the berries and then make a custard or cream and make it a refrigerated, instead of baked, pie. Maybe with a graham-cracker pecan crust.

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.